PAC concerned over Rs 552.66 million Printing Corporation losses

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has expressed its serious concern over Rs 552.66 million accumulated losses of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP) during 2000-01.
The committee, which met here on Thursday with MNA Malik Allah Yar Khan in the chair, asked the cabinet division secretary either to privatise or shift the assigned work to the provincial printing presses in order to avoid such losses in future. The committee also took up appropriation of accounts and audit report of the cabinet division for financial year 2000-01.
The PAC was informed that accumulated loss of Rs 552.66 million had eroded the whole paid-up capital resulting in negative equity of the PCP to the tune of Rs 434.217 million as on June 30, 2001, and its assets were less than its current liability by Rs 332.727 million.
The chairman directed the cabinet division secretary to present the matter before the cabinet for early privatisation of the PCP press at Lahore and Karachi and restrict it to Islamabad for the printing of essential and confidential assignments of the federal government.
The chairman also directed the PCP management to gear up the pace of recovery from the government departments and report to the PAC within one month.
While discussing the performance of the cabinet division, the PAC observed that the non-publication of the report on implementation of observance of principles of policy and its implementation of the government after 1996 was a sheer violation of the constitution.
According to details provided by the audit department, the cabinet division had been entrusted the task to prepare the said report for presentation before the Parliament under the rules of business of the federal government.
However, the cabinet division failed to comply with its duty in a violation of the constitutional provisions. The PAC directed the cabinet division secretary to prepare the said report before September this year.
The PAC also directed the secretary to adhere to the staff car rules and the utilisation record of the staff cars maintained by the cabinet division in the cabinet pool. The committee regularised various audit objections of the division subject to the verification by the audit department. It, however, asked the division to improve its financial discipline and budgetary administration.
MNAs Muhammad Safdar Shakir Syed, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Lieutenant Colonel Ghulam Rasool Sahi (Retd), Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Professor Asiya Azeem, Syed Qurban Ali Shah, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Chaudhry Wasi Zafar, Liaquat Baloch and Kunwar Khalid Younus attended the meeting.