PESHAWAR: Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has detected a non-recovery amounting to 533.540 million in the accounts of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in head of water charges from the consumers and has directed recovery of the amount, said AGP Report on KP Departments Year 2019-20.
The report has already been presented in the provincial assembly, wherein the Speaker has referred it to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the house. The new PAC to be formed after the elections of the provincial assembly will deliberate the report.
In first case, a non-recovery of Rs.493.073 million was noticed during the audit of the Executive Engineer Public Health Engineering Division, Nowshera for the financial year 2018-19.
The audit has observed that a sum of Rs.493,073,912/- was outstanding against various consumers on account of water charges, with no efforts being made by the department to recover the government dues, resulting into a loss to government.
The non-recovery is the violation of Rule 7 of Central Treasury Rules (CTR) Volume-I, which says that money received by or tendered to government officers on account of revenues of the government shall without delay be paid in full into the treasury.
Audit has attributed the lapse to weak internal controls and when pointed out in September 2019, the department stated that detailed reply will be furnished in due course of time. The audit also directed the department for holding Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) meeting, but till finalization of this report it was not convened, which prompted the audit to direct recovery of the amount from the consumers.
In second case, non-recovery of another amount of Rs.37.638 million has been found in the accounts of the Executive Engineer Public Health Engineering Division, D.I. Khan for the financial year 2017-18. The amount was outstanding against various consumers on account of water charges.
Audit has attributed the lapse to violation of the Rule 7 of CTR Volume-I and weak internal financial controls. When pointed out in January 2019, the department stated that efforts are under way for recovery of water charges.
Furthermore, in DAC meeting held on 23.08.2019, the department agreed to expedite recovery by involving the administration. However, DAC did not agree did not agree with reply of the department and directed to recover the amount within 30 days. But, no progress was intimated to audit till finalization of the report. So the audit recommended the recovery of the outstanding amount.
In third case, an unauthorized execution of items of work worth Rs.2.829 million that was not provided in the Bill of Quantity (BOQ) was noticed in the office of the Executive Engineer Public Health Engineering Division, D.I. Khan during the financial year 2017-18.
The audit has observed that expenditure amounting to Rs.2,849,227 was incurred on account of items of work executed in various schemes not provided in the BOQ/estimates.
The expenditure was incurred in violation of Para-56 of the Central Public Works Department Code, which provides that the proposal in the estimates should be structurally sound and that the estimates are accurately calculated and based on adequate data.
The audit attributed the expenditure to the violation of rules and regulations and when pointed out in January 2019, the department stated that efforts are under way for recovery of water charges.
In DAC meeting held on 23.08.2019, the department agreed to expedite recovery by involving the administration. The DAC did not agree with reply of the department and directed to recover the amount within 30 days. However, no progress was intimated to the audit till finalization of the final report. So, the audit directed the recovery of the amount.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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