Accounts officer’s ‘degree’ to be probed

Rules state DAO should be removed for failing department exams.

LAHORE:

The Finance Department is to investigate charges that the district accounts officer (DAO) for Multan fraudulently claimed to be a graduate, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Malik Naeemuddin Khokhar was posted as Multan DAO in May 2011. His responsibilities include dealing with all the accounts, receipts and payments of district, provincial and federal government departments in Multan.

Khokhar was inducted on the basis that he had a university degree, but his service record merely states that he graduated in 1980 as a private candidate. No document verifying this claim is attached.

He has failed the departmental examination in three consecutive attempts and hence should have been removed from service under Section 2(k) of the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act of 2006 and the Provincial Treasury and Accounts Service Rules of 1962.

The DAO is an ‘independent’ posting and according to Punjab Treasury Rule 1.4, a treasury officer must not be placed in an independent charge unless he has completed the training and passed the prescribed examination.

Khokhar told The Express Tribune that he didn’t remember exactly when he graduated, but he thought it was in 1980-81. He said that he had submitted an application asking the Punjab government to waive the examination requirement and was still awaiting a response.

Amjad Saleemi, the chief treasury inspector, said that the Finance Department would conduct an inquiry. He said that Khokhar would be asked to provide documentation which would be verified with the educational institutions concerned.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2012.