ISLAMABAD: The Sub-Committee of the Standing Committee on Government Assurances Monday expressed dismay over inordinate delay in payment of budget honoraria to the employees of attached departments of Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage and officials of Islamabad Police and directed the Ministry of Finance to address the issue at the earliest.
The committee, which met with Malik Ibrar Ahmed in the chair, discussed the payment of honoraria announced by the Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs on June 22, 2016 and June 14, 2017 to the employees of various government departments deployed during the budget sessions.
Malik Ibrar directed the finance ministry to resolve the issue of payment of budgets honoraria on priority to the employees of Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV), Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), Associated Press of Pakistan Corporation (APPC) and officials of Islamabad police.
He said around 10 departments had already paid honoraria to their employees while only employees of four departments including PTV, PBC, APP and ICT police had not been paid yet.
Today's meeting would not have been held, had the payment to the four remaining departments been made, he said. Malik Ibrar directed Joint Secretary Finance Jibran K Malik to address the issue at the earliest so that assurance report could be presented in the National Assembly.
Deputy Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Rafique apprised the committee that honoraria to officials of Press Information Department (PID) has already been paid while a summary has been sent to the finance ministry for releasing Rs 36 million to pay honoraria to the employees of PTV, APP and PBC.
He assured the committee that honoraria would be paid to the employees soon as their departments were facing financial crunch to pay monthly salaries.
The Joint Secretary Finance apprised the committee that as per rules, formally chairman Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) could only approve payment of more than one honorarium.
He said the chairman ECC was the competent authority to approve the honoraria and currently the Prime Minister was its chairman. He suggested that the parliamentary affairs ministry to club all the cases and directly send them to the ECC for approval.
Committee's Secretary Chaudhary Mukhtar Ahmed said the information ministry had moved the summary to the finance ministry as the assurance was given by the Finance Minister. The Speaker National Assembly had also given strict ruling for payment of the honoraria and non-compliance would tantamount to breach of the privilege of the Parliament, he added.
Malik Ibrar said the committee only recommended payment of honoraria to the officials deployed during the whole budget sessions. “We will face National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases if the committee recommends to pay honoraria to those 2000 officials who were not deployed,” he said.
The Joint Secretary Finance suggested summoning of the financial advisors and deputy financial advisors of the ministries of Information and broadcasting and interior in the next meeting so that the issue could be resolved.
The meeting was attended by officials of ministries of information and finance, PTV, APP, PBC and Islamabad Police.
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