We won’t follow any rules, board chief tells PAC

KARACHI:

Following the irregularities unveiled by the audit department in the accounts of the Mirpurkhas board of intermediate and secondary education, the latter refused to accept the rules and said that they were an autonomous body and did not need permission from a higher authority to spend the money.

During the meeting which was presided over by the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, Saleem Raza Jalbani, officials of audit department pointed out that there were anomalies worth Rs700 million in the board's account 2008-09. They added that the board's officials had embezzled the amount in the name of various allowances including medical, house rent and over time.

"They have no record of anything. During the audit they refused to cooperate with us," said audit's DG Ghulam Akbar Sohu, adding that around Rs6million were given to various employees as leave encashment.

"More than Rs10million were spent on the houses of employees and government offices without awarding tenders or getting approval from the governor." Justifying the expense, the acting chairperson of the board, Fasihuddin Khan, said that they were an autonomous body and didn't need approval from anyone. When asked how the board affairs were being run, the acting chairperson said: "We make our own rules." The finance department deputy secretary said that as per government rules every public department or organisation had to follow rules and regulation, otherwise action would be taken against them. Responding to this, the acting chairperson said that they could not accept these rules.

The PAC chairperson asked his staff to seek the help from law department on whether educational boards did not have to follow the prescribed rules.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.