Islamabad:
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was informed on Wednesday that beneficiaries of the age of benefits (EOBI) will be determined on the basis of the CNIC file instead of the registration certificate, and retirees will obtain an increase in their pensions from May 1.
The Committee was also informed that Eobi had disbursed 2.79 billion rupees among 5,131 false retirees.
A CAP meeting under the president of Junaid Akbar approved the audit settings of the Overseas Pakistani Ministry.
During the meeting, audit officials informed the committee that Eobi had disbursed 2.79 billion rupees to ineligible or false retirees.
According to the audit report, out of approximately 800,000 retirees, data of more than 5,000 people have proven to be incorrect. Pensions were issued to people whose birth dates did not correspond to their CNICs and their registration certificates. In some cases, men under the age of 60 and women under the age of 55 received pensions, in violation of eligibility criteria.
Audit officials revealed that age manipulation had been used to grant pensions to more than 5,000 unqualified people.
EOBI officials informed the committee that the institution’s fund is currently 600 billion rupees. They added that there are around 10 million companies in the country, and any company with at least 10 employees must register with the EOBI. They said they verify the age of the beneficiaries through the CNIC and other sources.
The Pakistani Ministry abroad said that retirement cases would now be settled on the basis of the CNIC, adding that EOBI pensions will be raised from May 1.
PAC president Junaid Akbar Khan said there should be standard criteria to determine the age of retirees. The president of the EOBI said that they are now issuing pensions on the basis of CNICs using Nadra data.
The Pakistani Overseas Ministry requested a month to rectify problems. The committee ordered the ministry to investigate the issue and submit a report in a month.
Audit officials also revealed that Eobi had not recovered 2.47 billion rupees from 2,864 institutions. EOBI officials said these institutions had not recorded their complete workforce and had not paid their amounts. Eobi has recovered 1.53 billion rupees but still working on the recovery of RS1 billion, in part because some recovery cases were blocked in court.
The Chairman of the Committee ordered EOBI officials to complete the recovery within a month.
