KARACHI, May 24: The Public Accounts Committee of the Sindh Assembly has observed that financial anomalies in varsities cannot be checked until the introduction of uniform allowances and facilities to the staff of all public-sector universities.

In the absence of uniform allowances as applicable, the PAC observed that staff of each university could take cover of medical allowances for financial irregularities.

The PAC, which met here on Thursday to consider draft paras of the audit report 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-9 of the University of Sindh and Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering, Science & Technology, Nawabshah, decided to write a letter to the governor drawing his attention towards the financial mismanagement.

PAC chairman Sardar Jam Tamachi Unar said that the governor being the chancellor of all public-sector varsities in the province should pay regular visits to the universities. He also called upon ministers that they go into the field instead of administering the performance of their respective departments from their offices. Without their active role, performance of their respective departments could not improve, he said.

The meeting, which was attended by Ghulam Mujadid Isran, Aamir Moin Pirzada, Syed Bachal Shah and Shoaib Ibrahim, was held to consider a total of 20 draft paras — 10 paras from each university — involving financial anomalies of over Rs81 million.

The PAC was informed that over Rs18 million had been recovered so far.