PESHAWAR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of KP Assembly Thursday asked the high ups concerned with Audit and Accounts to focus on performance audit with sole aim to ensure good governance and eradicate corruption from the public sector organisations.

The committee, however expressed satisfaction on recovery ratios of the Food Department and especially lauded its steps for increasing supply of wheat in nook and corner of the province as well as normalising its rate during the upcoming holy month of Ramzan.

The observation was made during meeting of the PAC on disposing audit paras on fiscal anomalies in Food Department. The meeting on Food Department was chaired by MPA Muhammad Idrees at KP Assembly Secretariat Peshawar. Beside MPA Inayatullah, it was attended by the high ups of the Food, Law, Finance, Accounts & Audit departments.

The committee expressed satisfaction on process of recoveries and referred cases of certain fiscal irregularities to the concerned sub committees for verification.

The committee further asked the audit and accounts officials to avoid creating audit paras based on merely raising objections on petty matters that did not tantamount to yielding financial benefits to the public exchequer rather resulting in waste of precious time and energy of the government departments.

The audit authorities are intact custodians of the public money and they must endeavour with ultimate goal of stopping fiscal wastage and providing maximum relief to the poor masses.

The committee, however, asked the departments for expediting the process of recoveries in respect of damages caused to public funds during the under para periods including loss due to delay of recoveries from defaulters.

The committee decided to ensure two big recoveries from the food contractor MS Evergreen Trading company (Rs1.747m) and (Rs1.359m) over overpayment due to decrease in transportation charges in Mardan and Malakand districts.

The Food Department was asked to pursue the case after stay orders of the contractor lapsed in the court of justice and ensure these recoveries immediately.

The chair further asked for non-inclusion of minor audit paras in the PAC agenda and ensuring its early audit in DACs to save precious time of the PAC and public institutions senior officials.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021