PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa audit department has detected irregularities in appointments and procurement in the provincial Food Safety and Halal Food Authority (FSHFA) during the financial year 2020-21 and has recommended the identification of those culpable for it through a ‘forensic analysis’.

The audit report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, revealed that the FSHFA recruited 81 employees from BPS-1 to BPS-17 in violation of ‘merit’.

According to it, two assistant directors (food safety) in BPS-17 were appointed in violation of eligibility criteria i.e. MSc (Hons)/MPhil/MS degree in food science and technology, food safety and quality management, food safety and control, or food nutrition and science from the universities recognised by the Higher Education Commission along with two years relevant experience.

The auditors declared irregular the recruitment of two people with bachelor’s studies degree and that of master of arts in political science.

FSHFA chief says audit objections just observations, will be cleared

They said the authority hired five food safety officers (BPS-16), who didn’t have the required degree of master’s, BSc (Hons) or BS in food sciences and technology, food safety and quality management, food safety and control, and food nutrition and science, or master’s, BSc (Hons) or BS degree in biological sciences with one-year postgraduate diploma in food safety and control.

Those with arts or chemistry degrees, BSc (Hons) degree on geography, and bachelor of science and MSc degrees in zoology were appointed.

The audit report said account officer’s appointment to BPS-16 also violated the ‘merit’ as the minimum qualification for the purpose was second class bachelor’s degree in business administration (finance) and commerce but the appointee had BS (economics) degree.

It also revealed that 73 Class-IV employees were appointed to the food authority at zonal level in violation of regulations, which declared that the candidates from the respective districts were to be preferred.

According to the report, the establishment department notified on Oct 28, 2019,the placing of the services of a BPS-18 employee at the disposal of the FSHFA for a ‘non-schedule’ posting on deputation basis, but the authority made him its director (administration).

The director (admin) was a member-cum-secretary of the selection committee, which recommended BPS-1-16 postings.

The auditors also declared illegal the appointment of the FSHFA director (admin) and his decisions as the ‘member-cum-secretary of the selection committee and co-signatory as the cheque drawing authority with the DG in the presence of the director (finance)’.

They insisted that according to Rule 44 of the KP Halal Food Authority Act, 2014, the authority would submit to the authorities within three months of the conclusion of the financial year the annual performance report, including the statement of accounts and audit reports, a statement of the work and activities and its proposed projects and schemes.

Within two months of its receiving from the authority, the government will lay the report in the first available session of the provincial assembly.

The audit department, however, said the food authority established in 2017-18 had so far not prepared any annual performance report.

It said the accounts records revealed that the employees appointed to the authority after July 2016 received ad hoc relief allowance for 2013, 2014 and 2015, which wasn’t admissible to them under the rules, and therefore, an ‘over-payment’ of Rs2.81 million to them should be recovered.

In the report, the auditors said under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Rules, 2014, the procuring entity would use open competitive bidding as the principal method of procurement of goods valuing over Rs100,000 but an amount of Rs5.6 million was irregularly spent to purchase lab equipment.

They also pointed out that the food authority’s tender advertisements, specifications of the items, notifications of purchase and inspection committee, technical and financial proposals of the participants’ bidders, and comparative statements were missing from the records.

The auditors found that two vehicles of the authority were handed over to the food minister against the rules.

When contacted, FSHFA director general Shahrukh Ali Khan said he had received the audit report and would defend recruitment and procurement in formal response to the objections.

“The audit report isn’t final. These objections are just observations at this stage, which will hopefully be cleared by the auditors in light of our response,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2022