KARACHI, Aug 17: In audit reports of 22 out of 23 district governments, after excluding Karachi which appeared in the Friday’s Dawn, in the Sindh province a total of Rs5,837.58 million irregularities were detected in their accounts of receipts and expenditures.

This emerged from 40 per cent of random audit of the total expenditures of Rs71,126.485 million which were incurred by 22 district governments during the financial year 2010-11.

The highest anomalies of Rs1,024.408 million were observed in the Qambar-Shahdadkot district government, followed by Rs968.497 million in the Jacobabad district government and Rs592.620 million in the Larkana district government.

A disciplinary action against was recommended in the audit reports against officials for not producing record for verification of expenditure and getting unverified record verified.

The directorate general of the audit district governments Sindh, Karachi conducted audit of all 23 districts in the province for the financial year 2010-11 on a test check basis under Articles 169 and 170 of the Constitution 1973 which required conducting audit of receipts and expenditure of district funds and public accounts of district governments.

Pointing out the non-observation of the Sindh public procurement rules 2010, the auditor has advised the district government to comply with the rules for procurement of goods and services and the payments made in contravention of rules needed to be checked by effecting recoveries where due and taking disciplinary action against the officials involved.

The audit has also highlighted the need to strengthen internal controls to ensure that lapses of the kind reported are pre-empted and fair value for money is obtained from public spending.

The amount involved in anomalies and irregularities pertains to 30 to 40 per cent random selected expenditures for audit from the total expenditure incurred during the year by respective district governments.

The anomalies and irregularities reflect violation of rules and regulations, violation of principle of propriety and probity in public operation, reported cases of fraud, embezzlement, thefts and misuse of public resources, quantification of weaknesses of internal control systems, recoveries and overpayments of public money, non-production of record and other cases of negligence, etc.

The anomalies and irregularities detected in the 22 districts of the province are as follows: Hyderabad DG Rs394.234 million, Thatta DG Rs73.795 million, Jamshoro DG Rs158.615 million, Tando Allahyar DG Rs230.097 million, Badin DG Rs60.080 million, Dadu DG Rs110.431 million, Larkana  Rs592.620 million, Sanghar DG Rs56.754 million, Khairpur DG Rs177.460 million, Matiari DG Rs179.761 million, Shikarpur DG Rs246.363 million, Naushahro Feroze DG Rs213.587 million, Shaheed Benazirabad DG Rs120.423 million, Tharparker DG Rs68.640 million, Tando Muhammad Khan DG Rs148.217 million, Mirpurkhas DG Rs188.520 million, Umerkot DG Rs7.534 million, Qambar-Shahdadkot DG Rs1024.408 million, Sukkur DG Rs232.144 million, Kashmore-Kandhkot DG Rs106.152 million, Jacobabad DG Rs968.497 million and Ghotki DG Rs240.817 million.