A parliamentary panel on Tuesday directed all the principal accounting officers (PAOs) of the government not to come to attend committee meetings without proper preparations. These directives were passed on by a subcommittee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament, which met here under the chairpersonship of Hina Rabbani Khar to discuss and review audit paras of Aviation Division for the financial year 2012-13.
The panel expressed its anger over non-provision of required record to the Auditor General of Pakistan by the management of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and PIA.
Audit officials told the panel that PIA management has waived Rs 128 million to different clients including international cargo companies from 1993 to 2010 out of a total Rs 357.8 million recoverable amount; it only managed to recover Rs 19.9 million while rest of the amount is outstanding against foreign pax and cargo agents.
The committee said the matter should have been resolved 10 years back but due to lack of the coordination of the PIA management with AGP officials, the matter is still pending. The panel directed the CAA and PIA to share all the relevant record with the AGP and review the issue in departmental accounts committee (DAC) and provide the findings of the DAC meeting to PAC for further deliberation of the settlement of the audit para.
The PIA officials said that since 2000 the company has total sales of Rs 2,000 billion of which an amount of Rs 1.5 billion was waived off to various local and international clients.
Audit officials said that during the audit of the PIA for the year 2012-13, it was revealed that a total Rs 320 million was outstanding against 46 international foreign pax and Rs 30 million against cargo agents. The audit officials further stated that during a DAC meeting in 2012, the PIA officials said that an amount of Rs 80 million out of the outstanding amount has been recovered while efforts are under way to recover the rest of the amount.
The panel directed the PIA and CAA management to improve recoveries and also coordinate with the AGP officials.
The PIA and CAA officials attending the meeting acknowledged that the delay was on their part and assured the panel they will sit together with AGP officials and resolve the matter as per given deadline.
Hina Rabbani Khar said that only timely actions can help improve and ensure recovery of outstanding amount against any of the clients, adding that waiting for decades and lingering on the matters would not resolve the problems.
Member Committee Sheikh Rohail Asghar questioned how PIA or CAA can waive the outstanding dues of the clients and why the management of the CAA or PIA is hesitant in sharing the record with the AGP. He also stressed the need for better coordination among various state entities for bringing transparency in financial and management matters.
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