PAC body seeks list of officials who performed Haj, Umrah more than once

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Subcommittee Thursday sough the list of those officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony who went to perform Haj and Umrah for more than once and foreign trips on government expenses.

The PAC Subcommittee also directed for fixing the limit of expenses for Private Tour operators for Haj and Umrah and sought the list of those private tour operators who were blacklisted in previous years.

The Subcommittee was held with the chair of its convener Noor Alam Khan in which the audit paras related to Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony and Ministry of Science and Technology for the year 2017 were examined.

The Subcommittee referred the case of Ministry of Science and Technology for not getting technical approval for its building to Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) for investigations.

The PAC Subcommittee Convener, Noor Alam Khan, inquired from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony that how many officers performed Haj and Umrah on government expenses for more than once in last 10-years. “If any officer of [the] Ministry of Religious Affairs had performed Haj and Umrah more than once then recover the amount from him and deposit in the national treasury,” he said.

He also inquired from the ministry that how many time minister for Religious Affairs visited Saudi Arab. To the query of convener of the Subcommittee, Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs secretary and Inter-Faith Harmony assured that he will submit the list to the committee within next 15-days. Convener Subcommittee Noor Alam also inquired about the “Khudaam-e-Haj” who were sent to facilitate the Hujjaj on government expenses. “If they went to perform only Haj on the government expences then it would be better not to send them,” he remarked.

Secretary Ministry of Religious Affair said that the Audit officials should look into that matter and not to end the whole practice as the action could be taken against those who did not work.

PAC member Shahida Akhtar Ali also supported the Ministry of Religious Affairs secretary on that matter saying that rather than disbanding Khudam-ul-Hajjaj, it would be better to take action against those who did not perform their duty.

Convener of the PAC Subcommittee deferred this audit para and directed the Audit officials to audit the para and also hold the inquiry on it. He directed the Ministry of Religious Affairs to keep a check on the Private Tour Operators and not allowed them to enter into the Ministry. He also directed to Ministry of Religious Affairs to fix the limit of expenses of Hajj and Umrah.