The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has identified significant financial irregularities within the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and various universities. These issues include unauthorized contract awards and mismanagement of funds.
In a recent session, the PAC sub-committee, led by Convener Naveed Qamar, expressed frustration over the HEC officials’ inability to address audit objections spanning from 2010 to 2018. Notable violations involved illegal construction contracts awarded by universities such as NUST Islamabad, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Agriculture University Rawalpindi, and Peshawar University. The committee criticized the HEC’s oversight and demanded accountability for these discrepancies.
Further investigations revealed that the HEC incurred expenditures of Rs426 million for the National Research Programme for Universities (NRPU) without an internal policy governing project awards. Additionally, the PAC ordered a special audit of the HEC following the unauthorized launch of a dual degree program by COMSATS University in 2010, which collected Rs490.56 million from 28,000 students without HEC approval.
These findings underscore the need for enhanced financial oversight and governance within Pakistan’s higher education institutions to prevent future mismanagement and ensure accountability.
