ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has issued directives for starting an inquiry into the illegal appointments to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).
The PAC, under the chairmanship of Opposition leader in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah, met and reviewed audit paras of the Cabinet Division for the fiscal year of 2013-14.
The committee directed Cabinet Secretary Raja Hassan Abbas to initiate an inquiry into the alleged irregular appointment of 20 contract employees to the OGRA and submit a report within a month.
During the meeting, the OGRA director general informed the committee that 20 people were appointed to the authority in 2011-12 on a contract basis when there was a ban on recruitments to the authority. He maintained that the payment of Rs3.11 million as pay and allowances to these people was declared irregular.
He said that OGRA also released Rs1.3 million to a consultant who was appointed in violation of rules and regulations. On this, the PAC chairman directed the cabinet secretary to submit a report on legal powers of the OGRA to the PAC at the next meeting.
Discussing the audit para pertaining to the transfer of losses to consumers due to the revision of benchmarks for Rs2.8 billion UFG losses, the PAC chairman said the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) should improve its performance instead of transferring the financial burden to consumers. He also summoned the managing directors of the SNGPL and the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to answer questions relating to their performance.
