Irrigation Department: ‘Houses allotted in violation of rule’

Irrigation secretary says no ‘evidence’ provided to substantiate claims.

LAHORE:

As many as 20 officials of the Irrigation Department have been allotted government residences in violation of allotment rules, alleges a letter submitted to the irrigation secretary.

According to the letter, some junior officials have been allotted houses normally reserved for senior officials; in some cases, officials posted outside Lahore have been allotted houses in the three Irrigation Department colonies.

There are around 300 houses in the colonies.

The officials in the latter category, alleges the letter, have also been given official residences in the cities and towns they are posted in. According to the allotment policy, an official can retain only one official residence.

A department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the letter was submitted by Qasim Buttar, the Lahore Bar Association general secretary last week.

Most of the officials are sub divisional officers (SDOs) posted in various districts, said the official. He told The Tribune that all allotments had been made on the recommendation of a section officer general who, he said, had been stripped of the authority to allot residences. He did not name the officer.

The official said that the officer had made some of the allotments after declaring them as falling under the head of ‘hardship’, a category in which the rules allow for out-of-turn or extraordinary allotments to be made.

Khalid Mehmood Chaudhry, the irrigation secretary, said that though an application had been received, the applicant had failed to provide any evidence in support of his claims. He said vacation notices had been issued to some of the officials illegally occupying government residences.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2012.