COPE says Auditor General deserves BETTER PAY
A salary that suits the prestige and responsibility of the Auditor General will be among a series of recommendations in the final report of the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), a Parliamentary source said yesterday.
He said the report would be submitted to Parliament on July 23 by Senior Minister and COPE Chairman D.E.W. Gunasekara.
The minister had told COPE members that the Auditor General’s post was on par with that of a supra grade public servant and above the level of other members of the accounting service. The AG has constitutional powers to audit and inquire into accounts of all public institutions and his responsibility to Parliament is much higher than that of any other senior public servant. Therefore, he should be paid a salary that befitted his dignity, prestige and responsibility.
The COPE report consists of the observations and recommendations on 244 public institutions and will recommend the liquidation or re-investment of a number of public institutions such as Hingurana and Kantale Sugar factories, Amibilipitiya Paper Mills, Fabric Lanka Ltd and the Janatha Fertilizer Enterprise among others.
The COPE inquiries were based on the 2011 and 2012 financial reports and it had
The Auditor General’s post is on par with that of a supra grade public servant and above the level of other members of the accounting service. The AG has constitutional powers to audit and inquire into accounts of all public institutions and his responsibility to Parliament is much higher than that of any other senior public servant.
found that 95% of the losses sustained by public enterprises were from four major public enterprises – the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), SriLankan airlines and Mihin Air – amounting to a colossal Rs.170 billion. For instance, the CEB was unable to afford a power generation loss where the CEB buys a unit of thermal power at an average of Rs.23.00 from Independent Power Providers (IPP) and sells it at Rs.13.11,” a source said.
At the CPC, the problem is that the major purchasers of fuel like the CEB, SriLankan, Mihin Air and the SLTB had defaulted on their bills.
He said the COPE report came down hard on a large number of state institutions that were responsible for wastage and losses amounting to Rs.15 billion.
Minister Gunasekera had singled out Lankaputra Development Bank, Sri Lanka Cricket, National Child Protection Authority, National Library and Documentation Services Board under the Education Ministry, Sri Lanka Corporation, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Samurdhi Authority, Sri Lanka Export Development Board, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Sri Lanka Telecom, Ceylon Fisheries Corporation, The Central Bank, UGC, State Mortgage Bank, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, Securities and Exchange Commission, Urban Development authority, Peoples Bank, National Transport Commission as being among many other public ventures responsible for huge losses.For instance, Rs.1,250.5 million given by the Samurdhi Authority to various other institutions had been unpaid and unaccounted for.