GUJRAT: The Punjab Inspectorate of Treasuries and Accounts has stopped district accounts offices across the province from accepting credit receipts 32-A containing National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and service centre fees that used to be collected at the Computerised Land Record Centres (CLRCs) at Bank of Punjab (BoP) counters.

Treasury and Accounts Inspector Malik Rashid Ahmed in a written letter directed all district account officers not to collect certain dues/fees for which no separate head had yet been sanctioned by the competent authority.

After the letter was issued, services at most of the CLRCs linked to the centralised system of Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA) remained suspended from Wednesday to mid Thursday however the PLRA resolved the issue through a makeshift arrangement with the BoP.

Accounts offices in the tehsils and districts also issued separate letters to the CLRCs to inform them of not accepting the said fees till a separate head could be approved.

The dues being collected included Rs100 as BoP charges, Rs60 Nadra veri-sys charges and Rs200 service centre (CLRCs) charges. They are being collected on the 32-A challan specified for treasury (accounts office) use, as all government dues and fees are usually collected on the same document.

A senior official of a district accounts office said: “The 32-A challan is meant for a specific head, but the PLRA is collecting different services fees whose head is yet to be defined. The practice was severe violation of accounts rules and the BoP has been accepting dues for unauthorised accounts.”

He added that the decision to not accept these dues was made to avoid any complication after reconciliation of the amounts (the receipts figures) later after the BoP sent scrolls to the accounts offices based on its daily receipts. These amounts are meant to be submitted to the district accounts offices concerned daily, but BoP has failed to do so in almost all districts.

According to a district administration officer, no one knew how all this had been planned without any criteria defined for specific heads. These steps were taken without taking the accounts department on board. He said sanctioning of a separate head on these receipts was a legal requirement that should have been fulfilled prior to signing an accord with the BoP to open counters at the CLRCs. But sanctioning of a separate head would incur cost as well as periodical audit, which had been avoided by the authority concerned, he claimed.

On the other hand, a senior PLRA official said centralised software was a new vision and an innovative step which needed further improvement. There is no doubt there were some loopholes, but organisations and departments should work jointly for the welfare of the public.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2017