A special audit report on the eighth and ninth Parliaments has revealed significant concerns over fuel allowances, vehicle use and other official privileges granted to the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Committee Chairpersons and senior parliamentary officials.
According to the audit, the Speaker had been allowed to use fuel without a prescribed limit. During the final two years of the ninth Parliament, the Speaker used an average of 3,994 litres of fuel per month in 2023 and 6,122 litres per month in 2024.
The audit noted that these figures represented increases of 66 per cent and 155 per cent respectively compared with 2022. Annual expenditure on the Speaker’s fuel amounted to Rs. 19.37 million in 2023 and Rs. 26.05 million in 2024, with the report describing the increases as significant.
The audit also raised concerns over fuel and vehicle privileges granted to the Deputy Speaker. Although the Deputy Speaker’s position had been treated as equivalent to that of a non-Cabinet minister, allowing the associated privileges and allowances, the audit found that fuel limits applicable to ministers had not been enforced.
During 2023 and 2024, the Deputy Speaker reportedly received 21,299 litres of fuel worth Rs. 8.54 million for a private vehicle, in addition to the three official vehicles allocated to the position.
The report further noted that the Deputy Speaker was entitled to 18,000 litres of fuel annually from November 2022 under the applicable arrangements. However, fuel provided for the three official vehicles exceeded the prescribed limits by 6,980 litres in 2023. In 2024, two official vehicles exceeded the prescribed allocation by a further 1,515 litres.
The audit also found that three official vehicles had been allocated to the Chairman of Committees, a position below that of the Deputy Speaker, while no specific fuel or vehicle limits had been formally determined for the position.
The audit report also revealed that the Secretary-General of Parliament had used two official vehicles simultaneously during 2022 and 2023.
An examination of the vehicle logbooks found that both vehicles had been allocated for use during the same periods.
The report further found that no specific limits had been imposed on fuel consumption for the Secretary-General, allowing unrestricted fuel use.
According to a Hansard record dated November 30, 2024, allowances for the Secretary-General were expected to be provided in accordance with the Establishments Code and relevant Public Administration circulars, similar to other public officials. However, the audit found that such limits had not been imposed on the position.
Between 2022 and 2024, the Secretary-General had used 15,063 litres of fuel valued at Rs. 6.07 million, averaging 5,031 litres annually. The audit noted that this was around 2,300 litres higher than the fuel allocation applicable to a Ministry Secretary, who receives one of the highest fuel allocations among public officials.
The audit also identified fuel privileges granted to officials holding positions such as Deputy Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General.
These officials had reportedly been allowed unlimited fuel for official travel, while also being permitted to use their vehicles for private travel up to 1,200 kilometres per month. Other departmental heads were generally limited to 960 kilometres of private travel per month.
The audit observed that this constituted a benefit not generally available to officials of equivalent levels elsewhere in the public service.
It recommended that the fuel and travel privileges be formally reviewed and that Parliament either adopt relevant Public Administration circulars or introduce another effective mechanism to ensure appropriate limits are imposed.
The audit further found that the charge of Rs. 8 per kilometre imposed for private travel exceeding the permitted limits until June 2022 was insufficient when compared with prevailing market fuel prices.
As a result, the government had lost an estimated Rs. 2.71 million during the period from September 2015 to June 2022 due to the failure to recover the appropriate market value for excess private vehicle use.
The report identified Rs. 512,312 that could have been recovered from the Assistant Secretary-General (Administration) and Rs. 1.107 million from the Assistant Secretary-General (Legislative Services), among the amounts contributing to the reported loss.
However, the audit noted that from July 2022, charges for excess private vehicle use were adjusted to reflect prevailing fuel prices. It also observed that the extent of vehicle use beyond the permitted limits had subsequently declined significantly.
