PAC orders special audit of Karachi’s 246 union committees

KARACHI: Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Monday ordered a special three-year audit of all 246 union committees in Karachi after a request from Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab.

The mayor asked the PAC chief to initiate a financial audit of all union committees in the metropolis. Khuhro, who also heads the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sindh chapter, then directed the relevant officials to carry out the exercise.

The audit order covers details related to the use of monthly Octroi Zila Tax (OZT) funds, expenditures, employee records and pension data for the union committees.

Audit to examine use of public funds

According to a statement cited in the report, Khuhro said the Sindh government provides Rs1.2 million every month in OZT funds to each union committee. For Karachi’s 246 union committees, that amounts to Rs295.2 million per month.

"However, no one knows where the UCs are spending the monthly funds received from the provincial government," Khuhro said referring to the spending of these funds. He added that the special financial audit would determine where the money had been spent and under which heads the expenditures were made.

Khuhro said the provincial government releases these funds to union committees for public welfare at the grassroots level and added that public money should be used for the public.

He also warned that action would follow if wrongdoing was established in the use of welfare funds. "If financial irregularities were proven in the funds meant for public welfare, action will be taken," he said in this regard.

Road cutting charges also under scrutiny

In addition to the audit of union committees, the PAC chairman sought details of road cutting charges collected by all town municipal corporations in Karachi.

He said the town municipal corporations had received billions of rupees under the head of road cutting charges and that they would have to explain where those funds were spent.

The development comes after the mayor approached the PAC chief for a review of the finances of all 246 union committees in Karachi. The order now sets in motion a special audit spanning three years, with officials asked to compile records on fund utilisation, spending patterns, staffing and pensions.