Bill on Toshakhana management submitted

A private member's bill, suggesting that public office holders and their families should not be allowed to retain or purchase Toshakhana gifts, was submitted to the Senate Secretariat on Wednesday.

The bill was submitted by PPP Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi and will be taken up on private member's day in the upper house.

Under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division, Toshakhana is a department that stores expensive gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and officials by heads of other governments, states and foreign dignitaries as a goodwill gesture.

The department was established in 1974.

The Toshakhana affair came to limelight after Premier Shehbaz Sharif claimed that his predecessor Imran Khan had sold state gifts received from friendly countries.

The bill submitted on Wednesday stated that the Cabinet Division shall be responsible for the management and regulation of all gifts kept in the Toshakhana.

It proposed that an evaluation committee should also be set up for ensuring that all the gifts received were preserved and deposited in a transparent manner.

The body shall submit an annual report to the cabinet containing details of the receipt and disposal of gifts, including amount deposited in the treasury, the bill said, adding that it shall also formulate ToRs for its functions.

The bill also mentioned the procedure for depositing, maintaining and disposal of gifts, stating that public office holders and their family members shall not be allowed to purchase gifts from the Toshakhana.

It said that the Cabinet Division shall get the value of gifts assessed by government sector experts in the FBR and by private appraisers.