PAC meeting: Panel summons IB chief for illegal occupancy

Housing ministry asked to resolve matter within 10 days.

ISLAMABAD:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) summoned the Intelligence Bureau (IB)’s director general for illegally occupying an official residence in Quetta and using it for  “operational purposes”.

The move was announced following a PAC meeting on financial irregularities in the ministry of housing and works. The auditors informed the meeting that the Intelligence Bureau has been using a government house in Quetta for “operational purposes”.

Despite repeated requests, they said, the head of the Intelligence Bureau had failed to pay the outstanding dues and ignored requests to vacate the building.

PAC chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan directed the ministry of housing to take up the matter and resolve the issue within the next 10 days. The chairman also directed the Intelligence Bureau’s director general to appear before the committee and explain his actions.

The parliamentary watchdog further questioned the officers of the housing ministry and its affiliated departments - Estate Office and Pak Public Works Department—for their indifferent attitude towards state buildings across the country. It accused the officers for failing not only to recover rent but also failing to put an end to illegal occupancy.

“If the estate office cannot take action against its officers, it is better for it to disband,” Chan said.



Meanwhile, Auditor General Akhtar Buland Rana held the government responsible for the poor state of affairs in the ministry. He added that the government’s decision to bifurcate and appoint separate federal ministers and ministers of state for housing and the ministry of works has adversely affected both the ministries.

The PAC in a separate decision also directed the estate officers to get an apartment,   allotted to a Senate employee Farzana Khan vacated by superintendent police Islamabad.

The PAC referred to another controversial matter of possession of a federal colony in Quetta to the Council of Common Interest- the constitutional body that deals in matters pertaining to both the federation and the federating units.

Under a directive by the premier, the housing ministry had sold the colony which has 169 housing units, to the Balochistan government. However, instead of paying for the colony, the governor of Balochistan wanted to change terms of the agreement, said the DG Audit Works. The federal government sold the colony for Rs202 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2013.