Secret accounts: PAC panel ask info ministry to share secret accounts with AGP

Expressing serious anger over the senior officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for not holding departmental accounts committee (DAC) meeting during the past two years, a parliamentary panel Thursday directed the principal accounting officer (PAO) to conduct DAC meeting on immediate basis and share the record of the secret accounts with the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).

A subcommittee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which met here under the chairmanship of Shahida Akhtar to discuss and review audit paras of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the year 2013-14 was informed by the AGP officials that the ministry did not hold any DAC meeting in past two years to review, discuss and settle audit objections.

The committee directed the federal secretary information and broadcasting to hold a fresh DAC on the subject and share the details of the meeting with the PAC as early as possible. The panel also directed the secretary to arrange a detailed briefing for the panel over the performance of the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) over the same period.

Committee Member Syed Hassan Tariq asked the Secretary Information Zahida Parveen how many DAC meetings during the past two years have been held to discuss audit-related matters of the ministry. The secretary replied that over the past two years no such meeting was held. The panel expressed serious anger over the state of affairs in the ministry, and directed the secretary not to ignore the directives of the panel and hold timely DAC meetings in future.

The panel also expressed serious concerns over the absence of chairman Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, saying such actions without informing the PAC secretariat will not be tolerated and stern action will be taken as per set rules and regulations. The officials informed that the chairman PEMRA is facing acute allergy problems; therefore he couldn't appear in the meeting.

The panel deferred further discussion on the audit paras of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting till discussion and review at the DAC level.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019