Privatisation Commission (PC) has asked the management of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) to arrange the audit of the company by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).
The PC, on August 28, 2016, decided that the apex court has not issued any restraining orders against conducting the audit of the PTCL by the AGP. Therefore, the AGP is entitled to hold the audit.
According to details, the PTCL has more than 60 per cent of the shares of Government of Pakistan. After the promulgation of 18th Amendment, the provision of Article 170 (2) has overriding effect over Section 38 (3) of the Re-organisation Act 1996.
After the Supreme Court’s orders on September 11, 2015, the AGP approached the PTCL management to provide auditable record on September 20, 2015.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), in its meeting held on December 15, 2015, directed the AGP to conduct the audit of PTCL. A letter in this respect was issued to the President of PTCL on December 29, 2015.
A letter was also written to the secretary ministry of information technology (MoIT) to ensure provision of record to audit, but no reply has so far been received.
The PTCL refused audit on the basis of Section 38 (3) of Pakistan Telecommunication Reorganization Act 1996 which provides that “notwithstanding anything contained in the Pakistan (audit and accounts) order 1973, the accounts of the company shall not be audited by the AGP, but shall be subjected to the order in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Ordinance 1984.”
