ISLAMABAD: In a charged meeting on Thursday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) directed the government to immediately cease the allotment of plots to bureaucrats and journalists as the practice begets the plague of ‘plot politics’ in the country.
Headed by Chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan, the PAC meeting released some stringent directions. It instructed both the housing ministry and the Capital Development Authority to stop land allotments until the PAC submitted a detailed report on the issue.
The committee has already announced that the policy of giving two plots to grade-22 officers will be revisited.
The committee also sought a list of plots allocated to some influential journalists. According to Chan, there are authentic reports that some journalists have obtained many private plots in the posh sectors of Islamabad, while dozens have occupied official residences at nominal rent.
He further revealed that some representatives of the media community had requested that the landholdings of journalists be included in the committee’s investigations.
The PAC has already reprimanded bureaucrats, Supreme Court judges, and military generals for using their influence to obtain plots. However, so far, the General Headquarters is resisting requests to disclose the names of generals who have been given plots.
According to a list prepared by the housing ministry, so far 204 grade-22 bureaucrats and 21 judges of the apex court (some of them sitting) have obtained one or more than one plot. As per policy, grade-22 bureaucrats are entitled to two 600 square yard plots in posh locations, for which the government exchequer doles out Rs1 billion every year. The PAC has already declared that this policy of plot allotment is discriminatory, and stands in violation to Article 25 of the Constitution.
The committee’s condemnation has been met with frantic efforts by bureaucrats to secure their properties. According to Chan, there are reports that many bureaucrats have started liquidating their plots. As a result, the committee has also directed the concerned ministries and departments to stop engaging in plot transactions with bureaucrats.
“The PAC will announce its decision on the policy of giving plots to the officials next week,” said Chan. The committee has ordered the housing ministry to ensure that the bureaucrats vacate official residences if they already own personal homes, and pay due rent if they occupied more than one official residence.
Several government officials have rented out their personal homes, while occupying official residences. Some of them had even rented out their homes to the government.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2012.
COMMENTS (11)
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At last someone took the right decision in the right direction. Keep it up PAC
is ISPR is telling the truth to the nation ?
Good decision!
PAC needs to take a note of a news coverage "Daily Jhang NewsPaper DDT: July, 13, 2012" a Statement published by respected ISPR that none of it's officers or any other staff ever held dual nationality n if they had, they withdraw one n only than they were eligible to join Army. With all due respect ISPR needs to do some home work before taking such stand. One example we can provide Mj. Gen. (rtd) Syed Mustafa Anwar Hussain n Ex-Ambassador of Pakistan, Indonesia had/still hold dual nationality (Pakistan/UK) not only this, he was active MQM member as well. Surely, there must be more (especially who joined/served British Army before partition) n than moved to Pakistan after partition n become king makers.
How do you reconcile the paradoxical practice of self sanctioning benefits by the legislators and the accountability for doling out of plots/special pays to top bureaucrats.The special packages for the parliamentarians and the former Prime Ministers do not provide any redeeming insight into the intentions behind the latest scrutiny.One has the feeling that the top crust of government and politicians are equally complicit in sanctioning away the public money for mutual support.Only an outside forum with powers to go into the whole gamut of appropriation of national resource in illegal or personal manner would throw up the real situation.These individuals are duly paid for their services and if they have done anything beyond their duty to serve the country and not the other party then there are other ways of national recognition of such services ( although this has of late assumed the form of personal rearwards rather than state recognition).No one is irreplaceable and those who complete their innings should go home and rest on what they have done and got in return from the country.They would conclude thankfully that they had had a far better deal than other contributors in the nation building.
Excellent step. I also look forward to viewing the list of journalist who got plots
PAC should take one step further and get back all plots alloted to Generals, Judges, Journalists, Bureaucrats and prliamentarians. The land of our motherland is being distributed like candies..........This ill should be reversed as soon as possible. All the above mentioned are being paid and compensated for their services, there is no justification of distributing land to them.........
In this country ordinary citizens toil hard all their life and even then they are unable to buy even a smallest unit of land as a shelter, while elites who already own multiple plots get even more multiple plots measuring into kanals. If it is a right to get a plot, then its a right of each and every citizen of this country........otherwise no single group of people have right to grab the land.
A good act. It should be adopted as a policy.
However, so far, the General Headquarters is resisting requests to disclose the names of generals who have been given plots.
What a shame, our "men of integrity and courage" and Judiciary are protecting the black sheep among their ranks. Quoting examples from "Khilafat e Rashida" is easy.
We appreciate the good work PAC is doing to retrieve the country's looted money. It should not only review the policy of allotment of plots to bureaucrats, journalists and other communities but take back the undue allotted plots.
Is this the first step towards proper functioning that the PAC is taking? All these accountability institutions (NAB/PAC) should take a leaf out of the supreme court's book at start functioning properly.
Strength of civilians institutions equals strength of democracy.