ISLAMABAD: The audit authorities have raised serious objection over irregular payment of salary to Executive Director of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr Mukhtar Ahmed without the approval of the Finance Ministry.
According to documents available with The News, auditor general of Pakistan has conveyed its objection to HEC over unauthorised payment of Rs2.70 million to Dr Mukhtar Ahmed during 2012-13.
“Audit is of the view that payment of salary to executive director other than admissible package i.e. MP-1 Scale without approval of the Finance Division is irregular and unauthorised,” says the document.
Audit observed that the post of the executive director was advertised for filling vacancy in MP-1 Scale (as per HEC Recruitment Rules, 2009), whereas the payment of salary was made to the incumbent on the basis of modified salary package admissible to the vice chancellors of federally chartered universities without approval of the Finance Division.
According to sources, instead of basic salary of Rs 234,000, which is allowed for vice chancellors, Dr Mukhtar is getting Rs 325,520 as basic salary. He is getting an allowance of Rs 65,104 as 20% of basic salary.
On top of that, he is also getting a monthly special allowance of Rs150, 000, which is neither part of advertisement nor federal government approved VC package. As if that was not enough, an amount of Rs 95,910 had also been approved for him as monetisation of transport facility.
The management of HEC was of the view that the decision to give special salary package to Dr Mukhtar was taken by a sub-committee constituted by the Commission’s chairman in its meeting on 9th April 2013. However, the management’s reply was not accepted by the audit department.
When contacted by The News, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad said he did not influence the decision of the Commission regarding his salary package.
“In fact, I was not informed about my salary package in my appointment letter. The letter only stated that the terms and conditions of my job will be decided later,” he said adding that his current salary package is not too different from MP-1 package. I was getting more salary before this appointment but I took up this challenge to serve this institution, he said.
To a question, he said the approval of Ministry of Finance is not required for vice chancellor’s package, as it is already approved by the government. Under the HEC rules, the executive director is appointed on MP-1 scale but the Commission members changed the nature of the post to avoid the condition of seeking approval of the prime minister which is otherwise required for all MP-1 appointments.
According to documents available with The News, the post of executive director of HEC was advertised on 29th July 2012 as MP-1 post in national dailies. The selection board of Commission appointed Dr Mukhtar Ahmad in January 2013 against the advertised post but later changed his pay scale and approved a special salary package for him without authorisation from the Ministry of Finance.
Sources said the change in the package of Dr Mukhtar was violation of HEC Recruitment Rules, duly published in Gazette of Pakistan and also contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan which had called for appointment on the post in a transparent manner.
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