Over Rs. 6.2 Million Spent Without District Sports Officer in Lower Kohistan — RTI Request Ignored, Financial Irregularities Surface

musarrat ullah jan -

 

Musarrat Ullah Jan , KikxNow , Digital Creator

Serious financial and administrative irregularities have emerged in the Sports Department of Lower Kohistan for the fiscal year 2025, based on official data obtained from the Finance Department. The situation is further aggravated by the department’s failure to respond to a formal Right to Information (RTI) request, raising concerns about transparency and accountability.

According to official records, a total of Rs. 3,298,200 was released for the district’s sports office during 2025. However, reported expenditures reached Rs. 6,201,397, indicating an unexplained excess of nearly Rs. 2.9 million. This discrepancy suggests either undocumented funding sources or inflated expenditure reporting, both of which point toward potential financial mismanagement.

To clarify these discrepancies, a formal RTI request was submitted in March 2025 to the District Sports Office Kohistan, seeking details on sports activities, financial usage, staffing, and facilities. Under the law, the department is required to respond within 14 days. However, no response has been provided to date. Under RTI provisions, such silence constitutes a deemed refusal and represents a violation of the legal obligation to provide public information.

Under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information law, citizens have the legal right to access public records, and government departments are bound to respond within the prescribed timeframe. Failure to do so not only undermines transparency but may also lead to legal consequences for responsible officials.

Further examination of staffing data reveals a critical administrative gap. The post of District Sports Officer (BPS-17) remains vacant, along with the position of Junior Coach, both of which are essential for planning and executing sports activities. Despite the absence of these key roles, significant expenditures have been recorded under salaries and allowances.

Financial records show that in multiple salary heads, spending exceeded the released amounts by a substantial margin. Similarly, several allowance categories reflect unusually high expenditures. For example, the Unattractive Area Allowance, which had a minimal release, shows spending exceeding Rs. 150,000. Various relief allowances also follow the same pattern of overspending beyond allocated funds, indicating weak financial controls or possible manipulation.

At the same time, there is little to no evidence of actual sports activity on record. No expenditure has been reported under advertising or publicity, which raises questions about whether any events were conducted at all. Without documentation, visibility, or public reporting, the claimed expenditures lack verifiable support.

Additionally, funds allocated under vague categories such as “Others” and “To Others” have been fully utilized. These heads are often associated with non-transparent spending and require further scrutiny to determine how the funds were actually used.

The situation raises several critical questions. How was expenditure allowed to exceed the released budget? What was the source of the additional funds? Who received salaries in the absence of key officials? Where is the evidence of sports activities? And why was the RTI request ignored despite legal obligations?

 

Repeated attempts to obtain a response from relevant authorities have not yielded any reply.

The available evidence points to a troubling combination of financial irregularities, administrative failure, and legal non-compliance. The absence of key officials, unexplained excess spending, and lack of transparency collectively indicate systemic issues within the department.

The case warrants an immediate and independent audit to determine the accuracy of financial records and to establish accountability. If the discrepancies remain unexplained, the matter may justify a formal anti-corruption inquiry into the use of public funds in the district’s sports sector.

#RTIViolation #PublicFunds #FinancialIrregularities #GovernmentAccountability #TransparencyNow #AuditRequired #AntiCorruption #PublicMoney #SportsDepartment #KhyberPakhtunkhwa #LowerKohistan #InvestigativeJournalism #AccountabilityMatters #GovernanceWatch #BudgetLeakage #PublicInterest #RightToInformation #CorruptionWatch #PakistanNews #InvestigativeReport

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