Moalims

A sub-committee of National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was informed on Friday that no record of UNICEF's multi-million-funded projects 'Rural child survival' and 'Acute Respiratory Investigation' was available for audit. The committee met here with Shahida Akhtar Ali in the chair to examine the audit accounts of Ministry of Capital Administration and Development for the year 1998-99.

The committee was informed that funds were directly released by the UNICEF to the project co-ordinator who had retired from services and had not handed over the record to the management.

The officials of the ministry said that before 2004, there was a general practice that foreign aid agencies released funds directly to the development projects. All the details of the projects were held by the project head and were not shared with the government. Now, they said this practice was stopped. The committee also directed the ministry to hold an inquiry to ascertain why the students of federal government schools were charged for development funds. The collection from students was not allowed in the Education Act 1974. An initial inquiry found that three directors were involved in the collection. The funds were utilised for the maintenance of buildings of federal schools.

The audit report said that federal college of education kept charging Rs 100 per month from each student as development fund since 1994 to 1998 and realised Rs 2.7 million. For the development purposes, government funds are allocated in the budget as and when deemed necessary. Realisation of development funds from students are not covered under any rule. The Ministry ordered the stoppage of this practice with effect from 1996 but the college authorities continued this practice till 1998.

Islamabad Model College for Boys I-10/1, Islamabad, collected Rs 3.5 million from students on account of admission and tuition fees during the period from 1995 to 1999 and utilised the same for the payment of salaries of temporary employees and on purchase of furniture and other items in violation of education code.

The expenditure incurred by utilisation of tuition fee and admission fee of Middle, Secondary and Second shift classes was held irregular by the audit. The committee was informed that the Pakistan Institute of Medial Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad management informed that a car registration number IDH 3103 Suzuki Khyber (1000 cc) Model 1996 had been stolen in March 1997 while it was parked in open at the private clinic of a consultant physician and was never recovered since then. The committee asked the management to write off the stolen car.

In another case, a government vehicle Toyota Corolla, registration number GP-096, valuing Rs 743,000 was snatched at gunpoint by two unidentified persons in front of residence of the Principal, Dawood College of Engineering and Technology Karachi on June 12, 1998.

The case of loss was neither reported to the audit office, nor was it brought to the knowledge of the concerned ministry. No detailed departmental inquiry conducted for fixing responsibility.

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