49th meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization of the National Assembly was held today i.e 21st February, 2017 in Committee Room No. 7, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, MNA on the following agenda:-

i)     Confirmation of minutes of the last meeting held on 07-02-2017.
ii)    Consideration of “The Public Interest Disclosures Bill, 2017” (Govt. Bill)
iii)   Discussion on the report of the Sub-Committee appointed under the Convenership of Mian Abdul Mannan, MNA, to resolve the anomalies of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) valuation table on property tax with consultation of the stakeholders.
iv)   Discussion on the proposals relating to the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) of Finance Division, Revenue Division, Economic Affairs Divisions, Statistics Division and Privatization Commission for making recommendations thereof.
v)    Discussion on the launching of amnesty scheme for overseas Pakistanis on repatriation of their funds/assets in the country for making recommendations therefore.
vi)   Briefing by Chairman FBR on the selection of parties for audit according to FBR policy.  
vii)  Briefing by Chief Statistician, Statistics Division regarding preparation of implementation status of up-coming census in the country.

2.         The Committee approved the minutes of the last meeting held on 07-02-2017.

3.         The Committee discussed the PSDP of Finance Division, Revenue Division and Statistics Division, in detail.  The Committee recommended that new projects proposed by the Finance Division should be allocated requisite funds on priority basis. The Committee also recommended that requisite funds may be provided to Revenue and Statistics Division. However, the Committee could not consider the project of HEC due to short of time and decided to discuss the same in its next meeting on 22nd Feb, 2017.

4.         While considering the report of the Sub-Committee appointed under the Convenership of Mian Abdul Mannan, MNA, to resolve the anomalies of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) valuation table on property tax with consultation of the stakeholders. The Committee directed to Chairman FBR for resolving the anomalies issues in light of the recommendations made by its Sub-Committee.

5.         The Committee Members were briefed by the Member (Audit) FBR about the audit policy adopted by the FBR. Mr. Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Chairman Standing Committee informed the Committee about the grave concern among the industrialists on discriminatory and uneven audit policy of FBR. He was of the opinion that FBR should facilitate the business community and general public by providing confidence for bringing them in tax net. It was also discussed that a separate institution should be established for auditing of industries etc. instead of FBR. The Committee recommended to FBR for offering their views in this regard in the next meeting. The Committee recommended that FBR should revisit its audit policy for the improvement of business environment in the country.

6.         The Committee discussed the launching of amnesty scheme for repatriation of funds/assets from overseas in the country. Mr. Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh informed the Committee that said matter was raised by the President, Federation Chamber of Commerce during his speech in Karachi in the presence of Honorable Finance Minister and other business community. The Committee unanimously recommended that in writing proposal will be obtained from business forum in this regard and will be forwarded to FBR for its further consideration, lateron.  

7.         The Committee was requested by the representative from Ministry of Law & Justice that the Public Interest Disclosures Bill, 2017 may be deferred because the same would be considered in the upcoming meeting of the Ministry of Law on 27-02-2017.

8.         The Committee was briefed by Mr. Asif Bajwa, Chief Statistician/Chief Census Commissioner, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) about the queries, apprehensions raised by Mr. Farooq Sattar, Mr. Muzzamal Qureshi and an Honorable Member from FATA. The Committee recommended that questionnaire received from Dr. Farooq Sattar will be forwarded to PBS for its replies. The Committee recommended to PBS that census issues pertaining to north Waziristan/FATA for IDPs census should be resolved with the consultation of Parliamentarians from FATA. The Chief Statistician informed the Committee that a meeting has been scheduled to be held on 28-02-2017 at FATA secretariat in this regard. The Committee also recommended that IDPs/FATA matter should be taken as an exceptional case, due to its current circumstances.                      

9.         The meeting was attended by Muhammad Pervaiz Malik, Mr. Muhammad Tallal Chaudhary, Mr. Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, Dr. Shizra Mansab Ali Khan Kharral, Mian Abdul Mannan,  Ms. Shiza Fatima Khawaja, Ms. Leila Khan, Syed Naveed Qamar, Mr. Asad Umar, Mr. Muahmmad Ali Rashid, Dr. Farooq Sattar, Mr. Muhammad Muzzamal Qureshi, MNAs, besides the senior officers from Ministry of Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Privatization, Statistics,  Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Ministry Law & Justice.