The Departments of Customs and Motor Traffic have found to be the weakest among the 842 State institutions, according to the investigations carried out by Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, its Chairman and Deputy Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna said yesterday.

The Deputy Minister told a media briefing that officers of some institutions including those of Department of Customs would be re-summoned before the PAC before the end of this year.

“We have come across many shortcomings in some institutions such as the Department of Customs, and therefore, PAC had decided to summon the officers of such institutions in an effort to ensure their accountability" Mr. Alagiyawanna said.

He said Parliament would decide on what action to be taken against those responsible for the shortcomings in these institutions."Action on those who are responsible for shortcomings will be decided during the debate on PAC report which will be taken up shortly," he added.

In addition, it was announced that an online network comprising 842 State institutions would be set up by 2019. Minister Alagiyawanna said 16 institutions including the Inland Revenue Department, Departments of Motor Traffic, Registration of Companies and the Immigration and Emigration will be linked online initially.

Elaborating more on online data bases in government institutions, Mr. Alagiyawanna said these would help the institutions to keep track of their progress. He said it would also help other institutions such as CID and FCID which often look for data. (Yohan Perera)