Misuse of vehicles: CDA fails to keep possession of official vehicles

Some officials used influence to get recovered vehicles back: source.

ISLAMABAD:

Plans of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to end the misuse of official vehicles seem to be running into trouble.

On October 22, the CDA had ordered to bring back 291 category 3 vehicles, including 134 double cabin trucks. These vehicles, supposed to be used only during working hours, were being put to private and personal use by some officers.

However not all of the 291 cars have been recovered yet, with recent news reports indicating that only about a third of the vehicles had been recovered.

Moreover, over 50 cars were returned to the officers they were recovered from, according to a senior CDA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“Some officers have used their influence and personal connections to get their cars back,” the official said. “They have again started using these cars for personal use.”

Ramzan Joya, director of CDA’s administration directorate, denied this claim. He said CDA has brought back “a lot of cars.”

He could not remember the exact number of cars recovered, because he had been “out of office for the past couple of days”. He conceded, however, that some cars had been returned. “CDA had accidentally confiscated some field cars and had to return them,” Joya said.

Cars belonging to the environment directorate, engineering wing and some vehicles used for the health department’s campaigns were not supposed to be added to the common pool, so they have been given back, Joya added. He could not confirm the number of vehicles returned, however.

He said the notion that influential officials have resisted the CDA orders is not true, because even cars that were being used by top officials have been recovered since late October.  “Cars belonging to the Planning Wing are in a common pool now,” Joya said. “The vehicle policy will be implemented as it is.”

CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid couldn’t confirm the number of cars seized for misuse and put to shared use, either. He did say that bringing back the cars will save CDA Rs47m in repairs, maintenance and fuel expenditures.

Types of vehicles in CDA’s use

The vehicles being used by the CDA fall under three broad categories:

Category 1

Category 1 vehicles are cars that are being used by CDA Chairman and the CDA board members. Currently, the new chairman has enforced a one-vehicle policy, which means that all the board members including the chairman have returned additional vehicles.

Category 2

Category 2 vehicles are cars that are allotted to officials for transportation in exchange for their conveyance allowance. According to CDA’s vehicle policy, officers of grade-18 and above are entitled to category 2 vehicles.
The cars are usually 800cc to 1000cc, depending on the grade and rank of the official. The officials can park these cars outside their house and put them to personal use, but only official drivers or the officials themselves can drive these vehicles.

Category 3

Category 3 vehicles are strictly for official use. These cars are used to perform the daily outdoor functions of the relevant directorates during office hours. These should be parked outside the directorates after office hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2012.