LAYYAH: Auditors have found discrepancies and unauthenticated usage of funds by the headmaster of the Government Muslim High School, Azam Chowk, in the annual audit and inspection report for 2017-18.

The regional director of the audit, Dera Ghazi Khan division, has issued the audit and inspection report of the accounts of senior headmaster of the school.

The report states the school bought furniture worth Rs3.051 million without any advertisement. According to Rule No 9 of the Punjab Procurement Rules of 2009 (amended in 2014) ‘A procuring agency shall announce in an appropriate manner all proposed procurement for each financial year and shall proceed accordingly without any splitting and regrouping of the procurement so planned’.

The annual requirement is to be advertised in advance on the PPRA website. Auditors observed that Rs3.051 million was incurred on quotations by splitting the bills to avoid advertisement and PPRA rules.

The audit team also objected to expenditures on repairs of buildings worth Rs2.664 million by the school as under rules “every government servant should realise fully and clearly that he/she would be held personally responsible for any loss sustained by the government through fraud or negligence on his/her part”.

The audit team observed that funds to the extent of Rs2.664 million were drawn from the government treasury for the expenditures of buildings but the history register of the building was not maintained and the work was executed without any measurement record. The payment was made without obtaining a certificate regarding satisfactory repair from the technical staff.

The report also mentions unjustified expenditure of Rs436,431 on the repairs of furniture. The payment was made without obtaining a certificate of repair work. The headmaster also paid Rs305,280 for the repair of machinery and equipment without obtaining repairs certificates from the technical staff.

The school did not deduct the Provincial Sales Tax worth Rs142,258 on services which is also against the directions by Punjab Finance Department letter. The headmaster made payments to the supplier without deduction of sales tax and income tax of Rs36,146.

The school administration also made unauthenticated payment in cash Rs2.161 million to different service providers.

The payment of more than Rs1,000 is to be made through a crossed cheque as per Rule 4(b) of the Punjab District Authorities Accounts Rules of 2017. The headmaster drew Rs2.161 million through open cheque. The report says the DDO did not endorse any bill requiring separate crossed cheque in favor of the supplier.

Up to 1,500 students are enrolled in the school and 90 percent of the students pay Rs20 each for the Frogh-i-Taleem Fund every month. The school also receives Rs1.4 million as non-salary budget (NSB) from the government. Auditors found the record of these funds is also not properly maintained.

Headmaster Khalil Ahmad Khan said he would submit comment to audit paras with the authorities.

Sources at the audit department said the headmaster did not provide them with record, and for that reasons, the audit paras had been converted into “advanced paras”.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2019