Representational image. PHOTO: REUTERS
The three-person committee, headed by senior member of the Board of Revenue (BoR) Qazi Shahid Pervez and comprising general administration secretary Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo and BoR deputy director Nazir Ahmed Qureshi, will inspect and scrutinise the records of domicile certificates issued by deputy commissioners in various districts.
"Not a single district is left where the business of issuing fake domicile certificates has not flourished. Dozens of [fake] domicile certificates were made in Larkana, where the commission members will start their inquiry today," an official privy to the development told The Express Tribune.
According to records available with The Express Tribune, scores of people holding domiciles of Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Kashmir have obtained fake domiciles to get government jobs in Sindh.
The curious cases of domiciles
"A man from K-P served here for 10 years as a district public prosecutor. Later, in 2017, he became an additional session judge on the basis of his domicile from Sindh. When a complaint was lodged against him, it was found that he originally held a K-P domicile but had managed to get a fake domicile and PRC for Sindh to get the job," narrated a Sindh government official, adding that soon after the inquiry, the man was not only dismissed from the post of judge by the sitting Sindh High Court chief justice, but also lost his prosecutor position.
Similarly, when Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) was under the federal government, Afshan Nazly was appointed as the nursing college principal on the basis of a Punjab domicile. After retirement, she was reportedly appointed as an adviser to the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) vice-chancellor on a Sindh domicile.
A JPMC official explained that she had surrendered her Punjab domicile and made a Sindh domicile for the purpose of education.
"How can a person who retired from a job on the Punjab domicile get another job based on a PRC from Sindh?" questioned Dr Qasim Rajpar, who has campaigned against dual domiciles. "It is an illegal act."
While Nazly, who was recently elected the president of Pakistan Nursing Council, could not be contacted despite multiple attempts, Akhtar Joya, a colleague who worked with her at JPMC, said she did not take any permanent position in Sindh after her retirement and was appointed at JSMU on a contract.
"Fake domiciles are not a new phenomenon; this has been happening for years," said an official in the services, general administration and coordination department, requesting anonymity.
According to him, officials at the deputy commissioners' offices used to issue fake domiciles for Rs2,000. Now, he said, they had increased the rate to Rs25,000 to Rs30,000.
Since there is no strict law for it, people can easily get domiciles and PRCs, said Barrister Zamir Ghumro. "As per the Pakistani Citizenship Act of 1951, a person who lives in any province for a year can get the domicile and acquire a PRC within three years," he said, adding that the formalities had to be fulfilled. "But the Sindh government should take strict action against those who live in other province and, with the help of some people, get Sindh's domiciles for competitive exams and admissions."
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2020.
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