MULTAN: The administrations of four towns of Multan district did not provide the record of Rs 22.93 million expenditure to audit teams for inspection, Dawn has learnt.

The towns that have refused to provide record are: Shah Rukn-i-Alam, Sher Shah, Shujaabad and Jalalpur Pirwala.

The Jalalpur Pirwala town administration refused to provide the record of Rs5.597m spending to the audit team for scrutiny. The amount was reportedly spent on various ongoing development schemes launched under Annual Development Programme.

Sources said the audit team was of the view that non-production of record created doubts about the legitimacy of the expenditure. The team reported the matter to the respective town municipal officer who even did not bother to reply while the meeting of district account committee is yet to be convened.

The officials of Shujaabad Town did not provide the measurement books, log books and other record of the expenditure worth Rs4.09m out of which Rs2.89m were allocated for plants for Jashan-i-Bahan, sports festival and petrol payments.

The audit team expressed its doubt over the expenditure of Rs2.36m in terms of petrol payments used in various vehicles while saying that the consumption of petrol was not documented.

Haphazard maintenance of record or funds bungling can’t be ruled out

“In the absence of the log book and consumption record the whole expenditure seems doubtful,” the report said. The town administration also failed to provide the enlistment record of contractors involving Rs0.53m. The audit team was of the view that the town municipal administration did not produce the record due to poor maintenance or “it is intentional concealment.”

The respective town municipal officer was informed about the matter but he did not submit reply to the team.

Similarly, the town administration did not submit the vouched accounts of the two projects launched by the Citizen Community Boards. The cost of both projects of metalled road and soling was Rs1.2m but the official concerned failed to provide the record including estimates, cash book, cheque books, bank statements, tender register, vouchers against the expenses, stock register and assessment of the project duly verified from the monitoring and evaluation committee.

The authorities of Shah Rukn-i-Alam Town did not submit the record of Rs8.875m for audit inspection. The amount, according to the department, was used for various purposes including tuff tile, wooden piling, polishing of doors, carpet, construction of soling, sludge carrier drains, roads, buildings, footpaths, floor carpeting, fixing of lights and others during the fiscal year 2013-14.

According to sources, the TMO and town officer (finance) refused to produce the record to the audit team despite various requests.

They said the audit team in Feb 2015 informed the TMO that they needed record of these spending but the TMO claimed that all the record was already provided to the auditors. The matter was later placed in the meeting of district account committee headed by then DCO Zahid Saleem Gondal in March 2015.

They said although the committee directed the concerned officials to submit the record but it was not provided to auditors. The audit team in its report recommended that the responsibility should be fixed and appropriate disciplinary action be taken against the respective drawing and disbursing officers.

The Sher Shah Town administration did not provide the record of Rs4.37m expenditure out of which Rs3.96m were unforeseen while the remaining amount was spent on transport repair.

According to Section 115(6) of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001, officials of the district government are bound to provide all facilities and record for audit inspection and comply with all requests for information.

As per Clause 14 (1) (b) of the Auditor General’s (functions, powers and terms and conditions of service) Ordinance 2001, the AG has authority to inspect any office of accounts, under the control of federation or of the province or of district including treasuries and such offices are responsible for the keeping of initial and subsidiary accounts.

Sher Shah TMO Iqbal Khan said the observation had been cleared after producing the entire record to the audit officer. He said there was no unforeseen expenditure and mentioning of it by the audit officer was the result of misunderstanding.

Shah Rukn-i-Alam TMO Chaudhry Farmaish alleged that the audit officer made observation to blackmail the town administration. He said instead of visiting the TMA offices, the audit officer asked him to provide the record at his (auditor) office.

“We requested the audit officer to give some time for production of record, instead observations were made,” he said.

Shujaabad TMO Attaullah Wahla said it was impossible that the record was not provided. He said neither Jashan-i-Baharan nor sports festival was held while any misappropriation in term of petrol payment was out of question.

The Jalalpur Pirwala TMO expressed his ignorance about non-provision of record, saying that he was in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah when the audit was conducted.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2016