PID contradicting itself to please powerful quarters

Agreed procedures violates established rules.

ISLAMABAD:

In a move that is being seen to favour a select few and to defraud the national exchequer of Rs357 million, the Press Information Department of the ministry of Information and Broadcasting has claimed that it will be following established procedures when it makes a payment under an agreement with the APNS to clear the dues of advertising agencies.

However, officials say that the agreement with the APNS is itself violating established rules and procedures as it allows payments to be made against invoices and department release orders (DRO’s) without taking into account tear sheets (original copies of advertisements placed in newspapers).

The established procedure is to submit DROs, invoices and tear sheets of the page on which the advertisement is published in the paper. The PM has been approached by the APNS for a one time exemption from the tear sheet requirement and this in itself is a violation of procedure given that the requirement to do away proof of printing of the advertisement is being done away with. In a letter issued by the Principal Information Officer, it is now stated that the funds have been sanctioned and that the payments should be made after taking an affidavit from the advertisement agencies.

The payments are being rushed through to oblige relevant quarters, say insiders, who add that now the requirement of original DROs is also being waived and photocopies of DROs are being accepted as adequate. This rush to flout laws and to oblige certain powerful individuals is being seen as a move that would land a number of officials in trouble.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani personally called Express News that he had not authorised a suspension of rules.

In the past, such deviations by Information ministry officials have led to investigations by the FIA and arrest of officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2011.