ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce on Wednesday snubbed the Finance Ministry for not giving due regard to the house and decided to write to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to bring the situation to his notice.
The committee met here with Shibli Faraz in the chair to discuss State Life Insurance Corporation (Re-Organization and Conversion) Bill 2016 as well as a number of bills lying pending with the Finance Ministry, including National Tariff Commission (NTC).
In this regard, the committee was informed that Finance Ministry had deputed an officer of junior rank to explain the situation before the committee. As per rules, no officer less than the rank of joint secretary can represent any department in any meeting of any committee of the parliament. Similarly, only Chief Financial Officer of the ministry is authorized to explain any issue before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
At this the Chairman and committee members including Senator Ilyas Bilour, Karim Ahmad Khawaja and others took strong exception of the presence of lower ranked officer in the meeting. The officer explained that Finance Secretary Waqar Masood was busy in another important meeting; therefore, he had been deputed to attend the committee meeting.
The word another important meeting enraged the committee members and they criticized the Waqar Masood as well as the Finance Ministry for not giving due importance the proceedings of the committee.
Please! Go and tell both the Finance Secretary and Finance Minister that no other forum is as important as this committee is” the chairman Committee asked the Finance Minister official to leave the room, saying that he was not entitled to represent ministry at this august forum.
