CM Secretariat: PTI leader seeks details of additional budget

Rs228.263 million were spent over and above the initial budget, says Andaleeb

LAHORE: The Punjab Information Commissioner (PIC) on Tuesday summoned the deputy secretary for welfare on a complaint against the failure to provide information on a budget increase for the CM Secretariat. She also sought details on the reported conversion of six personal residences into camp offices of the Punjab chief minister.

Commissioner Mukhtar Ahmed Ali summoned the deputy secretary on January 12 on an application filed by PTI leader Andaleeb Abbas.

Andaleeb, in her application before the PIC, submitted that being a citizen of Pakistan and a taxpayer, she has the right to seek information from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. She wrote an application to the CM’s principal secretary for access to information within the time period specified in the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013.



The applicant submitted that fund allocations for the CM Secretariat Lahore, according to the budget 2015-16, was Rs344.201 million and it was later revised to Rs572.464 million, which means an additional Rs228.263 million were spent on the CM Secretariat. The budget was hiked up by 66%.

She said this was the taxpayers’ money and according to the PA rules, Chapter XVI, no supplementary budget can be approved without approval from the assembly.

She requested in her application to the principal secretary to the CM to inform her about when and where the Punjab Assembly approved the additional 66% funds allocation for the CM Secretariat in the budget 2015-2016. She requested for details on where this 66% additional budget was spent.

Andaleeb also requested information on why personal residences of CM Shehbaz Sharif were converted into six camp offices. She inquired about the expenses of these camp offices and from which budget they were being funded.

The PTI leader also questioned whether the provincial assembly was taken into confidence before conversion of these residences into camp offices. She also asked for details of the security and maintenance expenses of the Jati Umra residence and asked why it was being funded with taxpayers’ money.

She told the commissioner that despite lapse of the stipulated time, the secretary was not providing her with the required information. Andaleeb requested the court to summon the secretary and order him to provide the required information.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2017.