Expressing disappointment over the performance of the Ministry of Science and Technology and its subsidiaries particularly the Pakistan Agriculture and Research Council (PARC), the monitoring and implementation committee of the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday asked the government to either introduce reforms in the affairs of the ministry or to scrape it.
The PAC also summoned former federal food and agriculture secretary Zafar Altaf for his alleged involvement in financial irregularities worth millions of rupees.
The committee, which met with Yasmeen Rehman in the chair to review audit objections pertaining to the accounts of the Ministry of Science and Technology, PARC and the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), expressed grave concerns over the performance of the ministry.
The committee observed that the PCSIR had become a useless body.
It was informed that the PCSIR used to spend budget worth Rs 900 million under the head of wages and pension of employees and it had no funds for research. The committee directed the audit authorities to dispose of audit reservations against the ministry within one month.
The committee was also informed that there were eight audit reservations against former food and agriculture secretary for his involvement in financial irregularities worth millions of rupees but even after the lapse of 16 years, he had not been able to get himself cleared of the charges levied against him.
The authorities of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed the committee that former PARC chairman CM Anwar was facing corruption charges but he had died therefore the NAB had closed his case.
The committee directed NAB not to discharge the case against the deceased chairman and to take action against those involved with him within 30 days.
