Financial rules framed under Universities Act came under fire in the meeting of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and the members of the committee expressed concerns that universities while framing their rules used to follow the rules of finance division and provincial government in the best interest of their employees and others. The PAC has clarified that universities while taking into consideration difference in autonomy and independence or guarantee the implementation of the GPR rules to not only get rid of the legal complications but also the concerned audit objections.
The meeting of the PAC held in KP House, Abbottabad with MPA Qurban Ali Khan in the chair also directed the concerned authorities of the finance department for avoiding financial issues and repetition of audit objections in future. They should take up the matter with Chancellor, Finance Division or Higher Education Commission (HEC) to ensure the resolution of the issues once and for all.
Besides, MPAs Mahmood Jan Khan, Mohammad Idrees Khattak and Arbab Wasim Hayat, Secretary Assembly, Additional Secretary Assembly, Amjad Ali Khan, Vice Chancellor, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar, Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Peshawar, the higher authorities of law, finance, audit and other concerned departments also attended the meeting.
The PAC discussed five audit objections to the tone of Rs 17.220 million of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar and overpayment of an amount of Rs 5.608 million to a contractor under head of construction by the University of Peshawar.
The committee while unanimously declaring the payment as irregularities and illegal directed to conduct inquiry within a period of two months and recovery of the amount from the responsible officials. The committee also expressed deep concerns over following provincial and finance division rules in financial affairs by the universities and directed the finance department to decide the matters with Chancellor, Finance Division or HEC to abolish disputes on audit objections and evolve a comprehensive line of action to resolve the problem once and for all and for further inquiry present the audit objections before the verification committee of the assembly.
The committee also discussed in detail the collective audit objections of Rs 100.04 million of the University of Peshawar and constituted a committee headed by MPA Idrees Khattak for investigation into some audit paras. The PAC also took strong notice of delay in the construction of Abdul Jalil Nadvi Boys College at the cost of Rs 70.0929 million by the authorities of the University of Peshawar, keeping the fund in the PLS account and obtaining bridge loans under the head of salaries and termed the act highly illegal.
The committee clarified that different development funds cannot be utilized under head of non-developmental expenditures. The authorities of the Peshawar University said that the process is under execution in all the universities and on receiving HEC funds they return the loan. However, the PAC declaring the act as violation of rules and referred the concerned audit objections to the sub-committee to stop the process in the universities.
The meeting also inspected beautification work of Rs 5 million on the convention hall of the Hazara University and while declaring the release of the amount illegal directed for the recovery of the amount and take stern action against those responsible. The committee rejected expenditure on the convention hall concerned and felt that higher expenditure is shown in the document as compared to the actual cost. Another audit objection of the university concerned was also referred to the verification committee for further investigation.
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