KP Assembly proceedings: Non-submission of tax returns leads to lack of quorum

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly couldn't continue its session for lack of quorum on Friday due to the members' non-submission of tax returns with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Deputy Speaker Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, who chaired the session, requested the Members Provincial Assembly to submit tax returns as the membership of 38 MPAs was suspended by the ECP so they were not allowed to attend the proceedings.

The House had referred the privilege motion of Uzma Khan of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) to the privilege committee regarding the director of Area Study Centre, University of Peshawar (UoP), when Fakhre Azam Wazir of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) pointed out the lack of quorum.

The speaker adjourned the session till Monday as there were only about two dozen members in the House. Uzma Khan in her motion said the service tenure of Dr Sarfaraz as Director, Area Study Centre had expired in 2013 following which the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad did not approve extension in his service and asked for appointment of a senior professor as acting director.

The provincial assembly's Standing Committee on Education also took up the matter and the authorities of Education Department, including the vice-chancellor of UoP, attended the meetings. They assured implementation of the standing committee's directives.

The Peshawar High Court had also given verdict in the case on May 5, last year, directing removal of Dr Sarfaraz and appointing of new director within 60 days.  At a meeting of the standing committee No 8 on Higher Education on March 6, 2017 the then pro-VC Dr Abid requested for 20-day time for resolving the issue, but the director was yet to be replaced.

She said despite the court verdict and the standing committee's directives as well as the Speaker's ruling, Dr Sarfaraz still occupied the post that showed the irresponsible behaviour of the Higher Education Department and the VC UoP, which is tantamount to breaching the privilege of this august House.  Special Assistant to Chief Minister Mushtaq Ghani requested to delay the matter till Monday, saying it had not reached his department that was why he was unaware of the situation.  However, the mover stressed for referring the matter to the committee and asked for voting following and the speaker referred it to the committee.

Fakhre Azam pointed out the quorum when the speaker tried to go for further proceedings.  After ringing the bells for three minutes, the quorum couldn't be completed as there were about 23 members in the House including only eight from the treasury benches.