PESHAWAR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has expressed its anger over financial irregularities and lack of financial discipline in the Local Government and Rural Development (LG&RD) Department.

It constituted a committee under the chairmanship of MPA Shaukat Ali Yousafzai for conducting investigation into the matter. Syed Jaffar Shah and Mufti Said Janan are members of the committee.

The PAC meeting was held here on Tuesday with its chairman, Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Asad Qaiser in the chair here at the Assembly Secretariat. The meeting discussed the audit paras regarding the LG and RD Department. The committee showed anger over irregularities in the department and issued directives for the recovery of Rs1 million from the responsible persons and registration of cases against them.

The committee referred the matter concerning non-depositing of unutilised Rs4.8 million in the provincial exchequer to a PAC sub-committee. The meeting also took notice of the non-presentation of the record of the expenditure of Rs7.7 million during financial year 2008-09.

The meeting also took notice of the non-presentation of the record of the expenditure of Rs.7.7 million during financial year 2008-09 before the audit authorities and for investigation directed the presentation of record concerned before the audit authorities.

The committee also took notice of irregularities of Rs4.6 million in different health and sanitation sector projects by the administration of Town-1, Peshawar, during financial year 2008-09 and for detailed investigation into the matter referred it to the committee. Asad Qaiser clarified that as the budget was approved by the provincial assembly, it is also mandated to question the utilisation of the public exchequer. He said that the protection of the national exchequer was the responsibility of PAC.

Published in Dawn February 4th , 2015

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