PAC seeks details of supplementary grants

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee on Friday sought details of the supplementary grants released to federal ministries, divisions and departments in the last three years.

PAC Chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain also summoned the Finance secretary in the next meeting and said it is an unfortunate situation that no one dared ask the ministries and departments how they utilized the supplementary grants.

A PAC meeting was held on Friday with Rana Tanveer Hussain in the chair in which the audit paras related to the Ministry of Narcotics Control for 2019-20 were examined. Tanveer expressed annoyance over the absence of the DG Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF). The officials of the Auditor General of Pakistan told the committee that the federal ministries get the supplementary grants without the approval of the parliament and the supplementary budget gets approved after the passage of the federal budget.

Tanveer said the supplementary grants always be taken in emergency but it has now become a routine practice. “The supplementary grants become a joke as these were availed for paying the electricity bills and purchasing vehicles,” he remarked. He said the whole budget process seems non-transparent.

PAC Member Naveed Qamar said the PAC has already directed that if any grant lapses, it should be pointed out. “Why the ministries get the supplementary grants if they are not able to utilize the funds,” he said and asked the officials not to mislead the committee in a bureaucratic way.

Examining the audit paras of Ministry of Narcotics Control, the audit officials told the committee that the Regional Directorate of Anti-Narcotics Force, Khyber Pakh-tunkhwa, confiscated six properties in 2006 but their auction was not held as two properties were in use of the ANF while the process for other properties started in 2019. The Ministry of Narcotics Control secretary said the process of auction of the properties has initiated but one bidder approached the court.

The officials of the ANF told the committee that a police station of the ANF has been established in two properties, one property is a house of one Kanal while there are CNG stations on two confiscated properties and on one property, confiscated vehicles are parked. The committee deferred the issue and sought more details on the confiscated properties.