30 April 2005	Saturday	20 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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ISLAMABAD, April 29: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Friday took serious notice of cases of nepotism and administrative and financial lapses in the information ministry and its subordinate departments.

The committee gave directives to Information Secretary Shahid Rafi, PTV Managing-Director Arshad Khan and PBC Director-General Tariq Imam to end the undue patronization of a consultant and a theatre group in violation of rules and regulations.

The PAC stopped short of passing a stricture for making a corruption case against the ministry officials for giving undue favour and causing Rs2.5 million loss to the public exchequer by appointing the former editor of an Urdu newspaper, Anwar Khalil, as consultant in Radio Pakistan without approval of the competent authority.

The PAC was stunned to know that the consultant has been receiving salary and all other perks and privileges despite being on leave. The PAC directed the secretary to submit a report before the committee of making the corruption case and ordering recovery of the amount already paid to the consultant.

“On similar charges a former Speaker of the National Assembly was sent to jail. Why action should not be taken against you? MNA Qurban Ali Shah asked the PBC chief who could not answer the question.

In response to another question when the DG said Mr Khalil was re-employed after expiration of his earlier contract and no other person was found to be as competent in the interviews conducted for hiring a consultant by a board headed by secretary information, parliamentary secretary for defence, Maj (retired) Tanvir Hussain blasted Mr Imam for trying to cover up the matter.

“Don’t tell me there is no experienced person in Pakistan other than Mr Khalil. Do not insult the people of Pakistan. There might be many new journalists who would have been better than Mr Khalil,” said Maj Tanvir.

He said the PBC should have adhered to the financial rules and the officials should look towards protecting the interest of the organization rather than doling out public money to benefit an individual.

Rejecting the argument of the DG that no other competent person could be found, MNA Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of the PML-N said, “the graveyard of Islamabad is full of indispensable people. PTV and the PBC are governed by the GoP rules. Why his (Mr Khalil’s) perks and privileges were not stopped when the appointment was not regularized?”

The PML-N leader further said the appointment and payments to Mr Khalil were in clear violation of rules and regulations which proved the collaboration of the ministry officials to promote nepotism and favouritism. He said it was criminal on the part of the civil servants not to have protected the state interest.

When the PBC chief said the board approval was taken for appointment of Mr Khalil but the case for the approval of the same from the government was struck up, the PAC turned down his contention on the ground that the board was not competent to grant approval.

The PAC chairman directed the official to stop all the perks and privileges of Mr Khalil who was appointed without approval of the competent authority.

When asked about the legality of appointment and the payments made, the officials of the auditor general’s office and the ministry of finance informed the committee that both were irregular and in violation of rules.

Secretary Shahid Rafi, who had earlier tried to express ignorance about the details of the case, later accepted that rules were clear and no provision existed for making payments to anyone whose appointment was not approved by the competent authority.

In another case related to former PTV managing director, Rana Sheikh, the PAC was informed by PTV director, finance, Mazhar Hussain, that the case lodged in the court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption in Rawalpindi was at the stage of evidence even after the passage of almost eight years.

He said in addition to the award of an irregular contract worth Rs6.11 million given to Rafi Peer Group, Ms Sheikh caused a loss of Rs99 million to PTV by giving undue benefit to advertisers by selling the air time at concessional rates.

When the PAC chairman questioned the competence of the legal department of the PTV to pursue the case, the PTV managing-director Arshad Khan could only say the legal section was pursuing the case. However, the PTV officials could not give any reply when PAC asked the management to brief the committee about any action taken against the lawyers for not pursuing the case properly.

The PTV could not give any reply when the PAC asked why Rafi Peer were not blacklisted despite the proof that they received undue benefit through former Rana Sheikh from the taxpayer’s money.

In response to a question about the persons associated with Rafi Peer Theatre, a PTV official said Faizan Peerzada, Usman Peerzada and Samina Peerzada were associated with the company.

The information ministry officials could not give any reply when MNA Qurban Ali Shah asked about any kind of special services which Rafi Peer offered for getting contracts in various departments.

The PAC chairman directed the secretary, information, to present a report about the patronization of the theatre group by PTV and other departments of the ministry by detailing the number of contracts and programmes given to the persons associated with the theatre group since 1997.

The PAC chairman also directed the secretary to apprise the committee about the action taken against PTV’s legal department for not expediting the hearings and properly pursuing the corruption case against Rana Sheikh.