ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has taken serious note of the unilateral grant of allowances by the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) to its employees in contravention of rules.

According to a press release, the PAC observed that all the government corporations and autonomous/semi autonomous departments were subservient to the government regulations and should not take undue advantage of the autonomy granted to them.

The PAC met under the chairmanship of MNA Malik Allah Yar Khan in the Parliament House to discuss the Special Audit Report on EPZA, an attached department of the ministry of industries and production, for the years 1995-99.

The press release said the EPZA had made irregular payments amounting to Rs13.514 million on account of medical and Eid allowance to its employees without the concurrence of the finance division.

As per the government's rules of business and instructions circulated by the regulation wing of Finance Division, all the government departments are obliged to get prior approval, however, the EPZA management failed to do so, it added.

The PAC directed the EPZA chairman to get the expenditures in question regularized and abstain from doing so in future. On another objection pertaining to irregular and wasteful expenditure of Rs2.135 million incurred on purchase of weight bridge, the PAC directed secretary for ministry of industries to conduct an inquiry and fix responsibility on the persons responsible for divergence from laid down procedure for such purchases.

The EPZA management tried to justify the act citing it a purchase of proprietary item where waiving of codal formalities was justified, however, the PAC was not convinced with the reply and asked the secretary to proceed as directed by the committee.

The PAC also took exception to the wasteful expenditure of $500,958 on import of workshop machinery from Czechoslovakia for establishing workshop at the EPZ, Karachi.

The audit department informed the PAC that the said machinery was imported without conducting a feasibility survey and it remained with the EPZA uninstalled for 18 years.

Later, the EPZA made several attempts to sell it, however, nothing materialized as its bill of entry, clearance documents and manuals had been misplaced.

The PAC lamented the negligence of the EPZA officials and directed secretary ministry of industries to conduct a thorough enquiry within one month and fix responsibility for causing loss to the national exchequer.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Chaudhry Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, Col (retired) Ghulam Rasool Sahi, Syed Qurban Ali Shah, Liaquat Baloch, Prof Asiya Azeem, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Safdar Shakir, auditor general of Pakistan, secretary ministry of industries and other officers of the departments concerned.