A new scandal of illegal appointments of officers in Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has surfaced, 24News HD TV channel reported on Thursday.
According to the channel report, the scandal was unveiled during the meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly (NA) that was chaired by its Chairman Noor Alam Khan.
The PTA Chairman and other officials also appeared before the PAC and answered the queries of the lawmakers.
In the PAC meeting, the audit authorities gave details about the illegal appointments of the officers in the PTA.
This was told to the committee that the recruitment advertisement in PTA was given for the staff of Sindh, FATA and Balochistan but violating the law, officers were hired from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
On this, PTA Chairman told the committee that the provincial quota is being maintained in the authority
Giving a strong response to it, Tariq Hussain said that this defendant should not be rotated and the concerned provinces should have got the quota in any case.
After hearing all the details of irregularities and illegal appointments in the PTA, PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan directed the PTA head to re-investigate the matter and submit a report to the committee.
During the PAC meeting, the issue of the alleged ban on opening new petrol pumps in the country was also raised before the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) chairman.
PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan said new petrol pumps are not being allowed to open in Balochistan and Sindh.
He clarified that he does not have any petrol and does also not want to enter this business of petrol pumps but the reality is that people are already dying of poverty so they should not be stopped from employment by disallowing new petrol pumps in the country.
On this, the OGRA chairman told the committee that there is no restriction on opening new petrol pumps in the country.
Anyhow, the PAC has sought a report on the implementation of the orders from the OGRA authorities by Tuesday.