3-           To what extent is it permissible for a member of the Comptroller Chamber who is appointed in the Committee of Auctions and Bids according to the resolution by the Ministry of Defense for the formation of the auctions and bids committee to have the right to vote on the committee’s resolutions; and whether his presence in the meetings or his absence shall affect or change the quorum results like any other member of the duly formed committee?

Finding:

The Comptroller Chamber member, who is the representative in the Auctions and Bids Committee of the Ministry of Defense is an active and a full member of the committee and he has the right to vote and is counted in the determination of the quorum results that validate or invalidate any meeting thereof.

Reasoning:

The provisions of Article (11) of the law of the Comptroller Chamber which has been issued by the law No., (4) 1995 and the Articles (2, 3, 8) of the Council of Ministers Resolution No., (16) 2004 that has exempted the Ministry of Defense from some certain rules of the law No., (8) 1976 with regard to the regularization and the organization of the bids and auctions, in this rule of the law the legislator has vested in and authorized the Comptroller Chambers by the necessary powers to supervise, inspect and control the State finance and the finance of the other legal entities which are under its control and supervision through deputing one of its professional personnel to attend the divers meetings for the various Bids and Auctions Committees within the State of Qatar to observe, steer , advice, monitor and witness that all the procedures which are deemed necessary to be followed and all conditions which are to be satisfied are in fact have been observed. It is among his multi function role is to caution any committee to avoid whatever infringements of fiscal laws that are purported to be committed in anticipation so as they can easily be avoided.

 It is the duty of the deputed professional personnel to look into and peruse the documents of the bids and auctions and question any person involved or inquire into any subject or ask for the clarification of any ambiguities. He is entitled to express verbally during the deliberations in the meeting his opinion and is always capable of bringing his view points out. At the same time all of that can be in a written form of observations and whether in the form of instructions to be followed by the Committee or in a form of an explanation. The instructions shall strictly be followed, and the explanations shall be clearly and strictly answered before the taking of any further actions. All of this shall be recorded in the minutes taking records. He is also entitled to sign these records and preserve a copy for himself as a reference.

In spite of what has been submitted above, according to the Article (2) of the Council of Ministers aforementioned Resolution, this Resolution has authorized the Ministry of Defense to form a special committee for the auctions and bids administration to be composed of five (5) members, three (3) of whom shall be from the ministry of defense personnel among whom the chairman and the vice – chairman plus a representative of the Ministry of Finance and a representative from the Comptroller Chambers. The representative of the Comptroller Chambers is entitled to participate in all the meetings of this Committee except for the meetings that shall involve the purchase or the procurement of the military provisions and services of the confidential nature.

These strict legislative measures are purposely made and therefore the meetings of the committee cannot become regular except with the quorum of the three members of whom either the chairman or the vice – chairman shall be present in the meeting. The resolutions shall be passed at least by the majority of three votes of the members at least for the validation of any resolution. In case of the pro and cons votes has turned to become equals, the president’s vote shall preponderate. Therefore, any violation to the procedure in the system or number of the membership to be as prescribed by the rules of the Resolution that has formulated it shall breach the quorum stipulation as has been fixed and has been firmly determined for the meetings of the committee.

In application of the above stated rules of the law to the facts situation of this presented case, and through the evidence which has been adduced by the documents, there has appeared a difference between the duties of the observer member of the Comptroller Chambers and a representative member of the Comptroller Chambers in the committee of the bids and auctions of the Ministry of Defense, whereas, the position of the observer which is governed by the rule of the Article (11) of the mentioned before law that he is an observer member who is deputed to be present in the different meetings of the various auctions committees. His duty is the monitoring and the supervision to make sure that the necessary procedure is adhered to according to the fiscal laws and regulations, and, therefore he is neither one of the members of the committee nor he is entitled to vote with the other constituted member of the Committee. His vote is therefore tantamount to no vote. His presence or absence shall not affect the quorum of the meeting. On the contrary, the representative of the Comptroller Chambers in the Committee shall participate in his ex-officio capacity in all held meetings with a full efficacy and having an integral role in his presence. He is included among the present members for the purposes of making sure of the quorum to ascertain the validity and regularity of the meeting. Over and above he has his full voting right according to the clear provisions of the Council of Ministers’ Resolution which has been mentioned before.

Therefore, the Comptroller Chambers Representative shall practice his mandate, powers and his authorities as is provided for in his commissioning and in this case “The Council of Ministers’ Resolution” is fully preformed to its every detail.

Based on what has been submitted before, and in application to the vivid rules of the Council of Ministers Resolution No., (14) 2004, the Representative of the Comptroller Chambers is an active member of the Committee with full efficacy and full voting right and full count in realizing the meeting’s quorum.

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Please don’t take this statement of advisory opinion for an official statement of the law.

Al – Meezan/ Qatar Legal Portal

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