An official of Ministry of Finance informed the special committee of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that most of the development projects in the past were made part of Public Sector Development Programme under influence, without proper approval of the competent forums.
"The government released the funds for such development projects from 2006-07 to 2009-10 without Finance Ministry's approval", he said. However, he added that the federal government issued directive to all ministries and government departments to get approval from ministry of finance before putting the project on the agenda of Central Development Working Party.
This step has been taken after considering the complaints of the ministries and departments which accused the ministry of finance for delay in releasing development funds. Earlier, the ministry of science and technology had alleged that the ministry of finance had not released 55 percent of its allocation during 2007-08, which forced it to abandon many projects critical for development of the economy.
Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology said in audit report the grant of ministry for years 2008-09 under review, closed with a saving of Rs 1.9 billion which worked out to 55.14 percent of the final grant. Headed by Yasmeen Rehman, the committee expressed serious concern that millions of rupees were being wasted each year under the component of research. The committee recommended to the government to involve the private sector and run all research institutions on public-private partnership basis.
Yasmeen and Saeed Zafar questioned the achievements of Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Pakistan Council of Renewable Energy Technologies as far as research is concerned. Yasmeen said that the committee would oppose the establishment of any new cell in the ministry, related to research, as research departments of the ministry showed poor performance. The Public Accounts Committee also reviewed the audit report 2008-09 of Overseas Pakistanis Division and accounts of Ministry of Livestock and Dairy Development for the audit year 2008-09.