NA speaker asks heads of NA bodies to hold ministries accountable

ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq Thursday advised chairmen of standing committees of the National Assembly to follow the law and hold the ministries accountable and those members who are habitually absent from the meetings should be served two consecutive notices and their membership should be cancelled.
The NA speaker gave this direction in a meeting of the Council of Chairmen of Standing Committees of the National Assembly, which met under his chairmanship. The meeting discussed important issues pertaining to empowerment and strengthening of Parliament and the standing committees.
More than 30 chairpersons attended the meeting including Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah, who headed the Public Accounts Committee.During the meeting, chairmen of standing committees of the National Assembly complained about the ministries for not implementing their recommendations. Upon this the NA speaker said there were provisions for this procedure in the Rules of National Assembly as according to Rule 201 government is bound to respond to the standing committees.
The chairpersons pointed out the lack of research facilities to which Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq assured them of better facilities since National Secretariat is recruiting new ROs through Federal Public Service Commission.
Ayaz Sadiq also assured the chairpersons that National Assembly Secretariat would help committees in setting up their websites. They would be trained in the fields of legal drafting and research work, he said.
Another obstacle observed by the chairpersons was unwillingness by the ministries to provide information to which Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq informed them that this matter should be brought in to notice of the concerned ministers and federal secretaries and the officers can be proceeded against.