Public Accounts Committee: Scrutiny officials refuse to let lazy universities off the hook

Nearly Rs 16m recovered from Rs17m irregularities after they were pointed out.

KARACHI: A committee tasked with scrutinising and holding accountable Sindh’s public universities was irritated by their staff for turning up unprepared for the meetings that began this week.

On Wednesday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) commented on the “unserious attitude of the bureaucracy of state-run educational institutes, who attend the important meetings without preparation”. The meeting was held at the committee room of the Sindh Assembly with chairman Sardar Jam Tamachi Unar in chair. They have been going over the financial audits for the years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09. But committee members felt that many institutions had failed to prepare their working papers and attended the meeting without proper documentation.

After the meeting, Unar told the media that they were displeased by the irresponsible attitude of the institutes’ representatives but that they continued “in protest” because ending the proceedings would mean giving “these people a chance to evade [us]”.

The audit department pointed out objections worth Rs17.38 million as a resulf of which Rs16.38 million were recovered as a result of PAC’s proceedings. Given the findings, the committee decided to ask the finance department to come up with a uniform financial policy for all educational boards and universities. “This policy would be completed within a month,” he informed.

PAC member Shama Mithani said there is a little confusion over the rules and regulations that govern universities and the educational boards. “We will hold a meeting with the provincial law minister and law secretary soon to get the clarifications required.”

Earlier on, the committee directed the audit department to inquire about a transfer of Rs152.8 million by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Sukkur and submit a report at the next meeting. BISE Sukkur chairman Dr Mahboob Shaikh explained that the board has only one source of fees which comes from different educational institutes in the shape of demand drafts. There is a bank on the premises where these drafts are directly submitted and transferred into the BISE’s regular account. “So there is no possibility of any irregularity,” he said.

To this, Audit Director-General Nazeer Ahmed Seehar objected and suggested the PAC defer the matter so that it can be further investigated. The audit department will submit a report at the next meeting.

IBA Karachi

Representatives of IBA Karachi attended the meeting but said their working paper on the audit paras was not ready because the audit department had completed its work just two days ago. In his defence, the audit DG said that they had completed the audit a couple of days ago so the audit matters of IBA Karachi could be taken up at the next meeting.

The board audits

All six audit paras of the Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi (BIEK) were settled. Similarly, all five audit paras of the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, all seven paras of the Sindh Board of Technical Education (SBTE), Karachi and only one para of Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Mirpurkhas were also settled.

The four out of eleven paras of BISE Sukkur were settled and the rest were deferred. Two out of three audit paras of BISE Larkana were settled and one was deferred.

Two paras of BISE Hyderabad were settled, while one para - out of four - of STB Jamshoro were settled and three were deferred. Four paras of IBA Sukkur were settled while two were deferred for the next meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2010.