PESHAWAR: The last Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly spent Rs42.941 million on the foreign tours of its members and employees, and the payment of travelling and dearness allowances to them in 2017-18 in violation of the rules and regulations, claim the auditors.

The auditors also pointed out the losses of Rs12.45 million on account of the use of electricity and those of Rs13.9 million due to the non-payment of rent by the lawmakers in the MPA Hostel.

The documents show that during the audit of the last assembly’s affairs in the financial year 2017-18, a sum of Rs42.941 million was spent on the foreign tours of the assembly members and employees and of it, Rs20.29 million was drawn as TA/DA.

A total of Rs9.7 million was spent on the foreign tours of staff members and Rs10.5 million on the lawmakers’.

Deputy speaker says learning from trips worth costs

They also pointed out that the criteria for nominating officers and the relevance of officers nominated for the tour and training along with their job descriptions were unavailable.

“Some junior most officers (specific persons) were nominated for foreign tours again and again without any cogent reasons,” a document read.

The auditor said Rs33.19 million was spent on account of TA payment to members without ‘detailed breakup, proof and appropriations register’, while Rs1.65 million as the previous year’s liability on account of the members foreign tours for the 2015-17 period was also claimed in 2017-18.

They added that a memorandum of understanding was required to be made with the respective agencies but that was not done, as such factual position regarding names and nomination of lawmakers or assembly staff and actual duration of visits wasn’t known.

The auditors said the finance department, in a clarification, pointed out that the payment of TA/DA, accommodation charges and other expenses were the responsibility of the inviting organisation/NGO and therefore, the payment of Rs42.94 million was unjustified.

They added that the irregularity occurred due to a violation of rules and regulations.

The auditors noted that the when the issue was pointed out in April 2019, the department declared that a detailed reply would be given afterwards.

“The audit requested the department to hold a meeting of the DAC but no such meeting was convened until the finalisation of this audit report,” it said.

The auditors said under the existing government policy, accommodations were provided by the government, while the occupants were responsible for the payment of utility charges.

It pointed out that during the audit of the KP Assembly’s financial matters, a sum of Rs12.4 million was drawn as electricity payment of the MPA Hostel.

According to the auditors, there are a total of 113 suites and rooms in the MPA Hostel and every member was paid Rs4,800 a month as utility charges.

“Since the rooms were allotted on nominal rates, utility charges were required to be paid by the occupants or cease the utility allowance of Rs4,800 per month, which was not done,” a document said.

It added that the failure to recover the MPA Hostel room rent caused the exchequer a loss of Rs13.9 million.

Deputy Speaker of the KP Assembly Mahmood Jan told Dawn that the audit paras were related to the last assembly.

He said the provincial government had allocated funds for the foreign visits of the current assembly’s members, but the visits couldn’t take place due to the pandemic-induced restrictions, so the funds were surrendered to the government.

Mr Jan said the learning gains from foreign tours were worth the money.

He said only around seven per cent of the last provincial assembly were re-elected and that foreign visits and training greatly helped increase their knowledge of the parliamentary business.

Almost all members of the previous assembly had gone abroad for training.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2021