IHC issues notice to PM’s principal secy

Petitioner’s counsel says out-of-turn plot allotments had been made to bureaucrats

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued notices to five federal secretaries including Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Principal Secretary Azam Khan and four other bureaucrats and sought their reply in the out-of-turn plot allotments case.

Former cabinet secretary Abu Ahmed Akif had filed a petition in the IHC contending that Azam Khan, bureaucrats from Aviation Division, Planning Division and Petroleum Division, and former information secretary Shafqat Jalil had been given plots.

During the hearing, petitioner’s counsel Munawar Iqbal Dogal adopted the stance that the Ministry of Housing had issued a notice for allotment of plots to 23 officials.

He said the plots had been allotted to benefit the bureaucrats.

The lawyer argued that according to the rules of Federal Housing Foundation, plots are allotted on the basis of age and experience.

He told the court that his client had retired in grade-22 but was not given a plot.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani asked whether the retired officer will be placed in the retired officers’ quota or will remain in grade-22.

The counsel informed the court that the retired officer would remain in grade-22 and will be kept in the waiting quota.

The housing foundation lawyer told the court that Akif had already been given a plot in sector F-14.

The court sought record from Capital Development Authority regarding the allotment of these plots and also issued notices to Federal Government Employees Housing Authority, Capital Development Authority, Ministry of Housing and Works, Aviation Division Secretary Hassan Nisar, Saffron Secretary Muhammad Aslam, Petroleum Division Secretary Mian Asad Hayauddin, Planning Division Secretary Zafar Hassan, customs member Javed Ghani, FBR legal member Fazal Yazdani and Establishment Division officer Ijaz Shah Wasti and sought a written reply by June 26.