Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday proposed a series of reforms to strengthen parliamentary oversight, including time-bound audits, digital tracking of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) directives, professional research support and performance-based accountability of government departments.
Addressing an event titled “Strengthening Parliamentary Oversight – Public Accounts Committee” here, he called for Parliament, the Auditor General of Pakistan and the Finance Division to agree on a clear target of presenting audited reports to the PAC within 12 months of the end of each financial year.
He proposed making real-time and risk-based audits of major development projects a regular practice rather than an exception, while ensuring that every PAC directive carried a clearly defined deadline for compliance.
The minister also proposed establishing a digital compliance-tracking mechanism linking the PAC Secretariat with the Auditor General’s office, supported by a dashboard showing the status of departmental compliance with committee directives.
He said Principal Accounting Officers (PAOs) repeatedly ignoring PAC directives should face consequences in their performance evaluations, with their Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) reflecting how seriously they followed the committee’s recommendations.
Stressing the need to strengthen the institutional capacity of parliamentary oversight, he proposed establishing permanent professional research wings within the PAC, comprising analysts, accountants and data experts.
He said development partners, including UNICEF, could support the initiative through institutional training, technical assistance and provision of necessary tools, while Parliament and its institutions should also invest in building their own capacities.
