PESHAWAR: Deviating from the procedure, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Secretariat has disbursed Rs28 million honorarium to its 578 employees in cash instead of cheques to avoid income tax deduction at source in addition to benefiting ‘ghost’ employees of other departments from its largesse.

Official documents show that around 62 employees, who are not on the payroll of the assembly secretariat, have also been paid Rs788,000 honorarium.

Employees of different departments including senior officers of finance department and accountant general were paid honorarium, officials told Dawn.

“The secretariat paid honorarium in cash instead of cheques to oblige some poor employees,” admitted a relevant official in the assembly secretariat.

Gives employees Rs28m in cash instead of cheques to prevent income tax deduction at source

“If employees were paid the money through cheques, then sufficient amount would have been deducted from their salaries and it would have resulted in financial loss to them,” he said.

Some employees from other departments, who had performed duty at and around the assembly building during the budget session, were also paid honorarium, said the official requesting anonymity.

“Around 20 employees of other departments including special branch, communication and works and provincial building maintenance cell were paid honorarium though they were not on the assembly secretariat’s payroll,” he said.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had sanctioned honorarium for the employees of the assembly secretariat.

An official letter issued on Oct 7, 2016 read: “the competent authority is pleased to grant honorarium equal to two months basic pay to the staff working in the provincial assembly secretariat.”

Following the chief minister’s approval, the finance department released Rs28.01 million to the assembly secretariat for disbursement among members of the entire staff.

The government also pays honorarium to officers/officials of other departments, who contribute to the preparation of annual budget for the province.

As such, the chief minister had separately approved honorarium worth Rs38.48 million for the officers/officials of finance, planning and development, establishment and administration departments, the chief minister’s secretariat, the ministers’ staff, police security and PMBC technical staff for performing duty during the budget for financial year 2015-16 and to be paid in the year 2016-17.

Despite that, the assembly secretariat playing as Good Samaritan showed generosity and paid honorarium to 62 employees of various departments.

According to the documents, Asim Khattak, additional secretary, has been paid Rs40,000, Mohammad Naseem, deputy secretary, Rs35,000 and Rizwanullah, budget officer, Rs30,000 honorarium. The departments of these officers have not been shown in the lists.

“This is very unique way to disburse public money to government employees in cash as it had never happened,” said one source and added that this was a mystery whether employees who were paid honorarium existed or not. He also informed that some senior officers have been shown as stenographers in the lists to pay honorarium.

Officials said the secretariat draw cheque carrying Rs28.01 million which was released by the finance department from the bank and disbursement was made manually to avoid deduction of income tax from employees.

“If the amount was paid through cheques, then income tax would have been deducted from the employees at source,” said another official.

When approached, KP Assembly secretary Amanullah Khan, who is the principal accounting officer, said he did not deal with the financial matters of the secretariat since the speaker had delegated financial and administrative powers to another person and therefore, he could not comment on the matter.

Speaker Asad Qaisar had withdrawn the secretariat’s financial and administrative powers from the assembly’s secretary before delegating them to a special secretary around a year ago.

The assembly’s director (finance), Arsala Khan, also refused to comment on the issue.

“I can’t speak on this subject,” he told Dawn.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2016