LAHORE: A report by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) for the fiscal year 2016-17 has revealed financial discrepancies of Rs11.1481 billion in Punjab’s Higher Education Department (HED), according to a report by a private media outlet.
The AGP’s audit report has found irregularities in the sector in various transactions made during the fiscal year, including non-production of records, irregular retention and payment to officials having fake degrees or experience certificates, irregular payments without approval, violation of tenders, unauthorised appointments, unjustified payments in universities, irregular procurements against the PC-1, irregular establishment of sub-campus without jurisdiction, non-recovery of dues, losses due to inefficiency in project management and unauthorized bank accounts among other things.
The higher education sector of Punjab accounts for 25.34% of the total financial irregularity in the province. The report revealed that the total loss to the national exchequer due to irregularities amount to Rs11.1481 billion, a 2% increase from last year. The Higher Education Department’s compliance with Public Accounts Committee (PAC) remained unsatisfactory and the department ought to improve it.
The largest sum reported by the audit in irregularities was non-production of records. It amounted to a total of Rs3.16403 billion. The report said that during the audit of HED, the auditable record relating to different transactions were not produced despite repeated requests.
Due to non-production of relevant record, the authenticity of the accounts could not be verified, the report said.
The report also found that the management of five institutions had been operating several unauthorized bank accounts. Government Post Graduate College Samanabad Lahore was found to have 23 bank accounts, Government Degree College (Boys) Dina Jhelum had 13, University of Education Lahore 15, Government Degree College (Women) Dina Jhelum 19 and Government College Township Lahore operating 25 bank accounts.
The report notes that the HED had the final budget at the end of the fiscal year 2016 of Rs32.467 billion. Out of this, the report said, actual expenditure was Rs29.007 billion. However, contrary to the rules, the HED did not surrender the saving – the amount which could not be spent during the fiscal year. The savings amounted to Rs3.459 billion.