KARACHI: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly scrutinised the accounts of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Larkana, on Wednesday.
They formed two different committees to investigate the anomalies in the board accounts. The committee will comprise provincial watchdog members belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The meeting that was presided over by acting chairperson, Lal Chand Ukrani, was informed that an expenditure of Rs6.8 million was incurred to purchase examination material in 2008-2009 but officials failed to show how they utilised the amount.
The audit department director-general, Ghulam Akbar Sohu revealed that the officials of the board had also paid an amount Rs180, 000 to the headmasters of various high schools for games and sports but they could not justify the expenditure. "During the audit, the officials were given lame excuses and no one had the relevant records," said Soho.
Sohu raised another concern about the purchase of furniture and equipment worth Rs911,020. "Despite our repeated requests, they [officials] did not show us the record that was maintainable," he said. An amount of Rs394,200 was paid to an official named Muhammad Ramzan as advance payment for recreational activities but neither the vouchers nor the quotation of the purchase materials were produced at the time of audit, he added.
The secretary of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Larkana, attempted to defend and produce the record but the audit officials and members of the provincial watchdog expressed their concern over the verification of the records.
"You failed to produce the entire record at the time of the audit and have brought up these vouchers now. We cannot accept it," said Ukrani. He directed the PAC secretary to write a letter to the chief minister and the governor complaining against the inattentive behaviour of the board officials.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ