PAC's working questioned

LAHORE-Some members of the Public Accounts Committee-I of Punjab Assembly, have expressed their resentment over working of the said body, citing ill-planning and lack of commitment on the part of its chairman. The PAC-I, which is headed by Opposition Leader Ch Zaheeruddin Ahmad, is meeting on Thursday (today) to take up audit paras of health department, but it has been learnt that members of the said body got copies of the working paper only a day before the meeting. A PAC member Mohsin Leghari told The Nation on Wednesday that he was highly perturbed over working of the committee because members have not been given enough time to study the audit objections raised in the audit report of the Auditor General. He resented what he called the lackluster attitude of the chairman, who, according to him, was not taking business of the PA body seriously. Leghari said that as per previous schedule of the meeting issued on November 12, the PAC was supposed to consider the audit paras of irrigation department, but the same was changed just before Eid without assigning any reason. Now, all of a sudden, the PAC chairman has decided to take up audit reports of health department, but not enough time has been given to the members to go through the audit objections, he further said. Another PAC member, who requested not to be named, told this scribe that some members have not yet been delivered copies of the working paper for Thursdays meeting for efficient performance of their duty. He was of the view that PAC members and its chairman should take its business seriously because it was an important body mandated to ensure effective utilisation of financial resources of the province. He suggested that PAC-I should meet at least twice a month to clear the backlog of last eight years concerning audit objections in respect of provincial departments.

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