KARACHI: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday ordered the removal of the chief municipal officer of Jacobabad for awarding contracts worth Rs15 million to a single contractor through multiple quotations without floating tenders.

Reviewing the audit paras of local councils of Larkana division for the years 2024 and 2025, the committee meeting, chaired by PAC Chairman Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, also took up alleged irregularities in Jacobabad Municipal Committee.

Audit officials told the PAC that, citing the 2022 rain emergency, the municipal committee had awarded contracts worth Rs15 million to a single contractor through different quotations and without issuing tenders in 2023, in clear violation of Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules, even after the emergency— a clear violation of SPPRA rules.

Taking notice, the PAC ordered the immediate removal of the chief municipal officer of Jacobabad Municipal Committee and directed that another officer be posted in his place.

The PAC also ordered suspension of seven officers of local councils in Larkana division for failing to submit audit records and for not attending the PAC meeting.

The meeting, attended among others by PAC Member Qasim Soomro and additional secretary of the local government department, was informed that out of 19 local councils in Larkana division, seven had neither submitted the required audit record nor deputed relevant officers to attend the PAC session.

Expressing grave displeasure over the absence and non-submission of records, the PAC chairman ordered the suspension of the chief municipal officers of Jacobabad, Shahdadkot and Shikarpur, and town officers of Gaji Khawar, Ghouspur, Guddu and Kashmore town committees.

Mr Khuhro said that the PAC was the province’s largest constitutional forum for accountability. “Failure to provide audit records and absence from the committee meeting amounts to negligence”, he said, adding that action would be taken against any officer found guilty of negligence.

In another case, the committee ordered the removal of the former chief officer of District Council Kashmore-Kandhkot, currently posted in Bolhari, for awarding sanitation and other works worth Rs17 million through quotations.

The PAC directed the local government department to implement the orders immediately and submit a compliance report in the next meeting.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2026