Kathmandu, June 24:

A sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the parliament today directed the Janak Educational Material Centre (JEMC) to clear Rs 210 million in dues within three months.

Members of the sub-committee visited the JEMC today to look into irregularities and arrears occurring there.

“The sub-committee has directed the JEMC to reconcile the books of account within three months,” said PAC secretary Som Bahadur Thapa.

“We have directed them to prepare all financial documents,” Thapa said after visiting the JEMC. We found that the JEMC had spent over Rs 21 crore in a haphazard manner.

“We found that the JEMC has its own press, but it is printing educational materials in a private printing press. We told them to stop activities activities at the earliest,” Thapa said.

The JEMC printed 82,000 copies of atlas two years ago. The dues remain because copies of the atlas have neither been sold nor distributed.

It had printed 200 thousand copies of the atlas in the fiscal year 2060-61. The atlas that was sold for Rs 155 per copy in the past is now being sold for Rs 145.

“The price of the atlas was reduced to compete with the current market rate. Other publishers have brought the atlas having the same quality at cheaper rates,” said a JEMC official.

The PAC sub-committee also found the JEMC paying fine for not auditing its tax.

The sub-committee directed the JEMC to audit the tax in three months.