No more free rides for ministers: PAC

Communication secretary given three days to retrieve vehicles from illegal users.

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday ordered the government to retrieve unauthorised cars from ministers, army generals and secretaries within three days, or it would recover the expenses from the secretaries of the ministries concerned.

The gross misuse of official vehicles compelled the PAC to issue a deadline, as the communication ministry alone, with just seven senior officials, including Minister Arbab Alamgir Khan and Minister of State Chaudhry Imtiaz Safdar Warriach, owns 30 Land Cruisers and a fleet of other cars. Public Accounts Committee member Aasia Nasir questioned the use of the 30 Land Cruisers by the ministry but the secretary failed to come up with a satisfactory response.

“You are the master of manipulating arguments if you do not have the capacity and the capability to run the ministry, ask the prime minister to give you another assignment,” said Chaudhry Nisar while grilling secretary Communication Sharif Ahmad.

The National Highway Authority alone has 858 cars and motorcycles and most of these are in illegal use, something acknowledged by its Chairman Chaudhry Altaf. The Auditor General of Pakistan Syed Tanvir Ali Agha said that in the communication ministry, former employees were still using the vehicles provided to them during their tenure. PAC gave the communication secretary four days to review the initial list he had submitted to the committee and then retrieve the vehicles from the illegal users.

Ahmad admitted that he had not ruled out the possibility of vehicles being allotted without his knowledge, a claim strongly rebutted by Nadeem Afzal Chun of PPP. “I do not believe that the secretary is unaware of the misuse of vehicles”. He said there should be a complete ban on the purchase of new cars and a working plan should be submitted regarding the use of the existing cars.

The prime minister should take serious notice of the exploitation of official cars and place ban on the import of luxurious vehicles, observed the PAC. Chairman National Highway Authority, Chaudhry Altaf confessed to the misuse of cars in his department and withdrew the initial report submitted to the PAC with a promise to table a new one, reflecting a truer picture.

“We intervened because they crossed the red line. If the ministries will not respond then the committee will ask the finance ministry to withdraw the secretaries’ perks,” said Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2010.