Sindh’s bureaucracy, particularly the heads of various administrative departments, have been warned not to directly approach Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah for allocation of funds in the upcoming budget, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Although the budget preparation is at its peak, some “influential secretaries” are directly approaching Shah to get approval for allocating funds for their respective departments, sources told Pakistan Today. Such hankering is muddling up careful calculations for many sectors, given the already precarious situation of funds because of the flash floods of 2010.
Sources claimed that the development wing of the Finance Department recently forwarded a letter (No FD-SO(Dev-I)1(20)Excess/2010-11) to Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Mohammad Ishaq Lashari and all secretaries, warning them not to float summaries involving financial implications for the CM’s consent without prior comments from the Finance Department.
“Forwarding summaries to the CM’s Secretariat without seeking comments from the Finance Department is a practice that violates Rule 28 of the Rules of Business 1986,” stated the letter, copies of which are available with Pakistan Today. “It is therefore requested to route all summaries for the CM through the Finance Department, which may directly or in directly involve the finances of the province or which involves; expenditure for which no provision exists and re-appropriation within budget grant,” the letter adds.
