The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has finally decided to install biometric attendance system at its offices across the country to identify `ghost' employees and latecomers, it was learnt here on Thursday. According to details, FBR's revenue division has informed all its chief commissioners and collectors that a centralised procurement committee (CPC) had been constituted to procure biometric attendance system for all field offices of the FBR.
Consequent upon formation of the CPC, all field offices have been asked to furnish their requirements of biometric machines and IP cameras for maintaining electronic attendance system. Meanwhile, official sources said that standard operating procedure (SOP) in this regard had been evolved and procurement process would be monitored by the committee and field offices.
To a query, sources said that though the FBR's field offices had been confronting issues of `ghost' employees and latecomers since long, no one paid any heed in this regard. They said that around 496 `ghost' employees, who were getting emoluments for years, were detected in 2009 only in Regional Tax Office (RTO), Karachi and the then chief commissioner had taken stern action against them by freezing bank accounts of some 120 employees.
The sources claimed that though the issue of ghost employees first surfaced in 2009, the FBR instead of taking remedial measures preferred to shelve the matter due to either bureaucratic or political pressure, thereby causing losses to the national exchequer in millions. Lauding the FBR's latest decision of introducing biometric attendance system in all its offices across the country, the sources that the move would help in getting rid of `ghost' employee and in checking latecomers.
When contacted, a spokesman for FBR Shahid Hussain Asad said that biometric attendance system had been installed in FBR headquarters a long time ago. He also showed his cognisance about the installation of electronic attendance system at all regional offices of FBR.
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