During a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting on Thursday, PAC Chairperson Nisar Ahmed Khuhro expressed frustration over the failure of the Inter and Matriculation Boards to provide audit records from the last 10 years.
As a result, he ordered the suspension of the boards’ audit officers for not supplying the necessary documents. The meeting, held in the Sindh Assembly Committee Room, was attended by Secretary of Universities and Boards Abbas Baloch, along with officials from the education boards.
The session was called to review the audit records from 2012 to 2021. However, the representatives from the boards were unable to produce the required working papers, prompting Khuhro to suspend Inter Board Audit Officer Zahid Ali Lakho and Matriculation Board Audit Officer Syed Shaikh Ali. Khuhro made it clear that negligence in providing these records would not be tolerated.
He also questioned Secretary Baloch about the absence of the Inter Board’s chairman, to which Baloch responded that Chairman NaseemMemon had been removed by a court order due to a harassment case. The search for a new chairman is currently on hold due to a court stay order. Khuhro emphasized that failing to submit audit records constitutes negligence and instructed the boards to present complete documentation at the next meeting.
One of the working papers presented at the session revealed that 11 employees of the Inter Board, originally hired for positions like drivers and gardeners, had received illegal promotions to junior clerk positions. The cost of these promotions amounted to Rs 13.39 million.
