Patwaris: Court orders special task force

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Tuesday directed the Punjab government to constitute a special task force at the district level to control corruption among patwaris. The CJ issued the order while hearing two identical petitions agitating corrupt practices of patwaris of Lahore and Mandi Bahauddin. Lahore DCO Ahad Cheema and Additional Advocate General Muhammad Hanif Khatana appeared before the court and informed it that 14 patwaris had been sacked while 19 of them had been suspended from service. The CJ said those suspended might be restored in a couple of weeks. He said there should be some mechanism to deal with corrupt elements. The DCO said the chief minister had set up an audit committee to probe into assets of patwaris. However, the CJ said the audit committee was a Revenue Department body and a special task force should be constituted to lessen the miseries citizens who suffered at the hands of corrupt patwaris.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2011.