Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman committed five major financial and procedural irregularities during 2010-11 including unauthorised transfer of Universal Service Fund (USF), approval of revised budget, unlawful selection of advocates' panel and irregular expenditure.
This was revealed in the special Audit Report on the Accounts of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority-Audit year 2011-12. According to the report chairman PTA transferred Rs 1045 million from Universal Service Fund (USF) to Drawing & Disbursing Officer (DDO) account without concurrence of members of the authority. According to the approved work flow (Revised) circulated vide No 2 (166)/08/Coord/PTA dated 9th March, 2009, for matters requiring the approval of the authority, the file shall be routed to the Chairman through the member(s) by the Directors General/Directors. Moreover, all fund transfers to DDO accounts of Headquarters, Zonal Offices and FAB will be approved by the Member (Finance). Moreover, Section 3(9) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) amended Act, 2006, states that the decision of the Authority shall, subject to sub-section (8), be taken with the concurrence of the majority of its members. It was observed during audit that in violation of the above-referred approved procedure, rules and provisions of the Act, an amount of Rs 1045 million was transferred from USF account to DDO account by the Chairman without concurrence of members of the Authority.
Audit report further detected non-approval of revised budget for the year 2010-11 for Rs 818.907 million. According to section 12(1), the Authority shall, in respect of each financial year, prepare its own budget and submit to the Federal Government three months before the commencement of every financial year for information.
The revised estimate 2010-2011 and budget estimate 2011-12 were presented to the 23rd Authority Meeting on 25th March, 2011. The Member (Finance) raised some observations on the revised estimates for the year 2010-2011.
According to Section 3(9) of the Act the decision of the Authority shall, subject to sub-section (8), be taken up with the concurrence of the majority of its members. The two members of the Authority did not approve the revised estimates for the year 2010-11 and recommended for regularisation before 30th June, 2011. The expenditure incurred up to 30th June, 2011 stands irregular as no regularisation was carried out by the PTA management as recommended by the authority.
The audit report further revealed irregular expenditure of Rs 3.467 million in PTA. According to para 37 of file No PTA/Finance/Accountl4l/ 2010-11 & 2011-12, the Chairman PTA directed to stop all payments of the accounts heads where budget is exhausted as the members of the authority have not approved the revised budget. In violation of the above, PTA Headquarter incurred an expenditure of Rs3,466,716 in various heads where the budget was exhausted. The expenditure was incurred through Director General (Finance) without concurrence of the Member (Finance) and Chairman approved the cases by violating his own instructions. This showed weak internal control in an organisation.
Audit report detected un-lawful selection of advocate's panel without approval of the Authority. According to Section 3(9) of the Act, the decision of the Authority shall, subject to sub-section (8), be taken with the concurrence of the majority of its members. Further, the revised work flow duly approved by the Authority and circulated vide No 2(166)/08/Coord/PTA dated 9th March, 2009 states that a file once, sent, for approval of the Authority, shall be routed to all members of the Authority. The Law Wing of PTA issued a list of 111 panel advocates for external and internal litigations including Zonal offices with the approval of the Chairman only. The case was not submitted to the other members of the Authority as required in the Act and work flow approved by the authority. Therefore, the selection of panel advocates stands un-lawful.
The report further unearthed, irregular expenditure of Rs 521.129 million due to revision of delegated powers of members. According to section 3(9) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act 1996 (amended 2006), the decision of the Authority shall, subject to sub-section (8), be taken with the concurrence of the majority of its members. Section 9 (Delegation of Powers), states that the Authority may, by general or special order, delegate any of its powers, functions or duties as it may deem fit, from time to time, to the Chairman, member, or any of its officers subject to such conditions as it may deem fit to impose. The Director General (L&R) PTA issued a letter No PTA/Chairman Office/8(6)/A/PTA dated 14th May, 2010 under which the powers delegated and role assigned to the members of the Authority were withdrawn without approval of all the members of the Authority. All Directors General were made to report directly to the chairman. The role of Member (Finance) was diminished in violation of the Act which says "the Authority shall consist of three (3) members one of whom shall be a professional telecom engineer and other shall be a financial expert". The PTA accounting manual also restricts withdrawqal of money without the written permission of Member Finance.
Thus expenditure of Rs 521,128,559 wef 14th May, 2010 was held irregular as the concurrence of Member Finance was not obtained as required in approved delegation of powers of 2009. The revision of delegated powers by the Chairman was violation of the provisions of the Act. Further, retrenchment of the powers of Member Finance was also financial indiscipline.