Over Rs20m embezzled at K-P varsities in just 2 years

Governor Shah Farman takes notice of irregularities, seeks report from Higher Education Department

PESHAWAR: Even as the provincial government provides bailouts to cash-strapped public sector universities in the province, a government audit of higher education institutions of the province has shown that more than Rs20 million has either been embezzled or misused at some of these institutions within a brief period of two years.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa (K-P) Governor Shah Farman has taken notice of reports of financial irregularities in universities across the province and has directed the higher education department to provide a detailed report on the issue.

The audit report, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, shows that the largest irregularities were related to the University of Peshawar (UoP) and the University of Haripur.

The report noted that a member of UoP’s Faculty Development Programme had been selected for a scholarship in Biotechnology at the University of Glasgow under the “Strengthening and Enhancement of Academic Provisions in the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences” project. The scholar, though, did not complete the programme. The varsity, under clause four and six of her surety bond, was liable to recover damages if the scholar did not honour the five-year-bond. However, the varsity failed to recover around Rs11.34 million in damages from the scholar.

Haripur University had around Rs8.1 million in irregularities.

In Haripur University (HU), the report noted that irregularities in the purchase of computer equipment to the tune of Rs2.56 million were detected. During the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16, a vendor Astrontech was paid Rs2.86 million to supply network routers to the varsity’s IT department. However, the approved project concept-I for the project was just Rs300,000. Hence an excess payment of Rs2.56 million was made.

Other irregularities detected in HU showed that during these fiscal years, the varsity suffered an additional loss of Rs2.17 million because employees who had been provided accommodation in the varsity were being provided conveyance allowance even when they were not entitled to.

Moreover, per orders of the K-P government, employees who have been provided official accommodation are not entitled to receive house rent allowance (HRA) while five per cent of their pay would be deducted as maintenance charges. However, in the fiscal years 2014-15 and 2015-16, several employees of the Haripur University were provided with official accommodation but the maintenance charges were not deducted from their salaries. This caused the varsity to suffer a loss of Rs2.02 million

Similarly, a senior official of the Haripur University, who had left the varsity in March 2014 to work at the Hazara University of his own accord, was provided Rs1.35 million in back pay after he was allowed to rejoin the varsity in September 2015, around 18 months later. The matter was pointed out In a 2017 audit that the official had bee paid for the period he had been absent and thus it needs to be recovered.

Similarly, a senior official of the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda leased out around 407 kanals of varsity land in the fiscal year 2014-15 at Rs15,000 per jerab (amounting to a total of Rs1.896 million).

However, this money was not recovered. The matter was raised in April 2017, when the varsity said that a detailed reply will be furnished after consulting the relevant records. When the matter was again raised in a January 2018 meeting of the DAC, it was decided that the sum will be recovered. However, the money has yet to be recovered.

In another similar case of misuse of authority, a senior official at the Swabi University received Rs1.36 million under a special mess allowance package over the financial years of 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Although these irregularities had been pointed out in past audit reports, the K-P government had failed to take action.

However, after abstracts of the report made it into mainstream media, the governor took notice of the report.

In a statement issued on Friday, Farman said being the chancellor of public sector universities of the province, he has long maintained that financial indiscipline will not be tolerated in the highest seats of learning in K-P.

“There can be no compromise on the financial discipline in the universities of the province,” the governor stated. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2020.