Top bureaucrats exploited the govt scheme to curb misuse of staff vehicles. PHOTO: FILE
Audit authorities have uncovered glaring irregularities, committed by several of the country’s top bureaucrats, in the implementation of the government’s car monetisation policy.
Auditing the accounts of different government departments for fiscal year 2011-12, the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) found that many bureaucrats secured a combined Rs20 million in benefits beyond the depreciated prices of vehicles monetised to curb the misuse of staff cars.
In addition to these benefits, the bureaucrats also retained around 117 vehicles, which should have been surrendered to Cabinet Division after the implementation of the car monetisation policy – which has been in effect since January 1, 2012 – for continuous ‘misuse’.
The bureaucrats whose vehicles federal auditors have asked the National Assembly to repossess include the country’s chief statistician Asif Bajwa and former establishment secretary Ahmad Bakhsh Lehri.
The previous government introduced the compulsory car monetisation policy for civil servants ranging from basic pay scale 20 to 22 to discourage the misuse of official vehicles. In return for the vehicles in their possession, the bureaucrats were given a monthly car allowance ranging between Rs68,000 to Rs96,000. Officers in possession of official vehicles were also given the first option to purchase the allocated cars on a depreciated price.
However, according to the policy, staff cars allocated to civil servants before January 1, 2012 were eligible for monetisation. Contrary to this, the Ministry of Planning and Development monetised the Toyota Corolla allocated to then planning secretary Bajwa at a depreciated value of Rs1.04 million despite the fact that he joined the ministry on January 9, 2012.
Bajwa, after retiring from the planning secretary’s position in July last year, also continued to use green government number plates, violating policy rules which required bureaucrats to use private number plates after purchasing official vehicles.
“The monetisation of the car [allotted to Bajwa] was irregular, unauthorised and not covered under the monetisation policy,” the audit report stated. It recommended either repossessing Bajwa’s vehicle or recover Rs400,710 from him to make up the difference between the vehicle’s market price and depreciated price.
In a case similar to Bajwa’s, auditors recommended either repossessing a Toyota Corolla purchased by Ahmad Bakhsh Lehri for Rs1.2 million under the monetisation policy of recovering the differential amount of Rs299,240.
Meanwhile, the report also accused Bajwa of providing a ‘misleading’ certificate in his capacity as statistics division secretary to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics Director General Arif Cheema to monetise a Mitsubishi Pajero allocated to the latter official.
The certificate issued by Bajwa stated that Cheema was allocated a Toyota Corolla instead of a Mitsubishi Pajero, allowing the latter to purchase the vehicle for just Rs345,097.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2013.
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