ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has written a letter to President Asif Ali Zardar expressing his reservations over the appointment of Akhtar Buland Rana as Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani during an interactive session with the media prior to the Iftar-dinner hosted by him for journalists at the PM House had dismissed the allegation levelled in the letter. The PM had stated: “There is no corruption charge against Akhtar Buland Rana but his bad luck is that he holds a domicile of Multan.” The President had appointed Akhtar Buland as AGP on the advice of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. After that the Chief Justice was contacted to take oath from the new AGP in accordance with the Constitution.
Article 168 (2) of the Constitution states: “Before entering upon office, the auditor general shall make before the Chief Justice of Pakistan oath in the form set out in third schedule.”The Chief Justice wrote a letter to the President on August 25 and sent its copy to the prime minister. It was stated in the letter that there is probability that President might not be apprised of the charges when he had sanctioned the appointment of Akhtar Buland as AGP.It was stated in the letter that this was a constitutional position, therefore, once a person is appointed on this post he could not be removed except action taken under Article 209 of the Constitution.
The clause 5 of Article 168 of the Constitution states; “The Auditor-General shall not be removed from office except in the like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court.”The allegations, which the chief justice has mentioned in his letter include that without permission he obtained citizenship of Canada, toured foreign countries, held three Pakistani passports and two National Identity Cards, harassment of his woman colleague. Besides these it was stated that Akhtar Buland does not fulfil the requirement of Grade 22 post. He has also blamed former Auditor General in the Supreme Judicial Council. – Nation
