LAYYAH: Funds collected from the students of public sector colleges under 16 categories remain unaudited, Dawn has learned.

The Layyah district has six boys’ and nine girls’ colleges where 10,000 boys and 10,700 girls are enrolled.

The sanctioned teaching posts for boys colleges are 184, and of them 46 are vacant. Similarly, the approved posts for girls colleges are 205 but only 76 teachers are available. Besides them, 29 clerical staffers have been overstaying from their stipulated tenure of three years.According to rules, a clerk can stay in a college for three years.

Dawn collected data on clerks and their overstayed period, according to which Azizul Rahman has been working as a head clerk for the last 20 years with Government Girls’ College, Fatehpur. Muhammad Faisal Shehzad has been working as senior clerk in the Government Girls’ College, Chowk Azam, for the last 15 years. Muhammad Mattiullah has been working as a senior clerk in Girls’ College, Layyah, for the last 13 years. Muhammad Iqbal has been a senior clerk for the last 12 years in the Government Girls’ College, Fatehpur. Saiful Rahman has been a head clerk in the Government Girls’ College, Kot Sultan, for 13 years. Muhammad Ashraf (head clerk) and Asif Sibtain have been working in the Government Boys’ College, Layyah, for the last nine years. Ikram Abbas has been working as a senior clerk for the last eight years in the Government Boys’ College, Kot Sultan. Saeed Ahmad Alvi has been a senior clerk for the last seven years in the Government Boys’ College, Choubara. Atta Muhammad has been a head clerk and Muhammad Farooq senior clerk for the last five years in the Girls’ College, 90-ML and Girls’ College, Choubara. Muhammad Iqbal Shah, Muhammad Sadiq and Muhammad Zahir Ahmad have been head clerks for the last 4 years in girls colleges of Chowk Azam, Pirjagi and Choubara.

The students of these colleges pay fees for 16 different funds which include red-cross, general, fine, medical, magazine, science lab breakage, parking, welfare, bus fair, admission, sports, board/university affiliation, examination, computer, student card, and labs library security funds every year. Of them, funds for examination, admission and fees are deposited in banks through challan forms and other funds remain in the colleges.

The minimum fee is Rs50 which is being charged for medical, welfare and general funds each.

Even though every student has to deposit Rs150 bus fund each, only 50 percent of the girls students were found using this facility. The fine fund is deposited by the students on different violation’s of college discipline but they are never given any receipt of these fines. Sources said only 25 percent of fine collection was deposited to deceive the audit teams.

According to rules, every fund should be documented with dual signatures of the principal, vice principal or the senior-most teacher but this practice is being done only for funds like admission, affiliation of board/university and examination fees. Funds like parking, red-cross and fines are operated by the principal. The library security are also not refunded to most students, says retired Prof Agha Ali.

Sources in the Higher Education Department say that the clerk mafia is so strong that they cannot be transferred despite several attempts by the authorities.

Deputy Director of Colleges Muzaffar Ahmad said that there is likelihood of misuse of funds, so there is dire need of college audit and transfer of overstayed staff. He said the list of overstayed clerical staff was being prepared and sent to the DPI colleges.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2019