Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
A legislative body of Upper House of Parliament on Tuesday moved a privilege motion against the ministry of commerce officials responsible for non- exclusion member Parliament from the TDAP Board since 2021 abrogating the law and the Parliament.
The privilege motion moved unanimously during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce, which was held today at parliament house while Senator Anusha Rahman was on chair.
This issue has persisted on the agenda for several meetings, and after a thorough review of the records of the Commerce ministry, it was revealed that some officials of Ministry of Commerce have consistently excluded the parliamentary members from the TDAP board since 2021, without any legal authority using unsubstantiated excuses.
Committee members took serious exception to the Ministry of Commerce officials for consistently misleading the Committee’s proceedings regarding the failure to acknowledge Senator Saleem Rehman’s ratification to the TDAP board from 2021 to 2023 and later the delay continued by some ministry officials when Senator Bilal Ahmed Khan, despite his nomination by the Chairman of the Senate and subsequent ratification by the Senate Committee on Commerce in September 2024, he was not notified and the matter was unnecessarily made a bouncing ball between Ministries of Finance and Law.
Senator Bilal Khan lamented that this exclusion not only violates the rules of parliamentary conduct and the sanctity of the custodians of the House but also indicates ulterior motives, given that the TDAP received substantial funds from the EDF, which could evade oversight by Parliament.
Following due deliberations, the Committee concluded that no legal justification exists for the exclusion of parliamentarians as claimed by the ministry of commerce under the SOE Act nor under a letter of law division of 2020, which have mysteriously been made applicable to the Senators and MNAs being parliamentarians but at same time not made applicable to the nomination of the federal minister to board who is also a parliamentarian.
The Committee took strong exception to the action of officials in Commerce Ministry who without seeking legal advise from Law or Prime Minister, appointed an Advisor as the TDAP board chair in 2021, without legally authorized by Prime Minister being Federal Minister incharge.
The Committee asked for strict action against officials of commerce ministry who kept parliamentarians excluded from Board on one excuse or another in last 4 years and also those who facilitated appointment of an Advisor as TDAP chairman without authorization by the then Federal Minister Commerce. The officials of Ministry of Commerce failed to appreciate that the “status” of Federal Minister does not arrogate ‘rank’ of Federal Minister on anyone, be it an Advisor or SAPM.
After detailed deliberations it was concluded that the matter be referred to the Privilege Committee of Senate and for Establishment division to be involved to conduct inquiry on delinquent officers serving in Ministry of Commerce and take action if any inefficiency and misconduct is established.
