The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has declared an agreement between the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) and the National Police Foundation (NPF) for the collection and retention of service charges unauthorised.
The audit report found that the ITP imposed fines worth Rs 617.85 million through 740,796 tickets issued to traffic violators. Data on the service charges deducted was not provided to the auditors, though available records put the estimated amount at Rs 19.53 million.
Auditors noted that the NPF was brought in as a technical partner to upgrade the web portal and e-challan application meant to improve services for traffic violators.
However, unlike the National Bank of Pakistan, the NPF is not a financial institution and has no authorisation to collect service charges directly from violators on each transaction.
Furthermore, it does not hold a digital banking or digital financial services licence from the State Bank of Pakistan, and no concurrence was obtained from the Finance Division. The agreement was also struck without open competition, in violation of the PPRA Rules 2004.
The audit report described the arrangement as unauthorised and stated that the contract should have gone through open competition with Finance Division approval. Management did not respond before the report was finalised.
Consequently, auditors recommended replacing the current arrangement through competitive bidding and obtaining the proper approvals.
The report also found that Rs 617.23 million was deposited under Head C-02638 during FY 2024–25 through the e-challan system. However, monthly reconciliation of the collected fines was not carried out with the Federal Treasury Office, which is a violation of financial rules.
Auditors called for reconciliation records to be submitted immediately and for regular monthly reconciliations going forward. Officials from both the capital police and the NPF were approached for comment, but they either declined or did not respond.
