ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has advised President Asif Zardari to appoint Maqbool Ahmad Gondal (PAAS BS-22) as Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) under Article 168 (1) of the Constitution, The News has learnt.
The newly appointed AGP will assume office upon completion of the term of the incumbent AGP.Top official sources confirmed to The News on Friday that the summary was moved to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, comprising senior incumbent officials of the Pakistan Audit and Accounts Group as well as one recently retired official of the same group. Maqool Ahmad Gondal has been serving as Controller General of Accounts (CGA), and now he will serve as AGP from next month.
The AGP is the constitutional position and holds vast powers to scrutinise all expenditures of the government. The Auditor-General shall, unless he sooner resigns or is removed from office by the Constitution, hold office for a fixed term of five years from the date on which he assumes such office or he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier.
The Auditor-General (a) shall audit all expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of the Federation and of each Province and to ascertain whether the moneys shown in the accounts as having been disbursed were legally available for, and applicable to, the service or purpose to which they have been applied or charged and whether the expenditure conforms to the authority which governs it; b. audit all transactions of the Federation and of the Provinces relating to Public Accounts ; c. audit all trading, manufacturing, profit and loss accounts and balance sheets and other subsidiary accounts kept by Order of the President or of the Governor of a Province in any Federal or Provincial department; and (d) audit, subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, the accounts of any authority or body established by the Federation or a Province, and in each case to report on the expenditure, transactions nr accounts so audited by him.The incumbent AGP Muhammad Ajmal Gondal is going to complete his term by next month.
