Govt accommodation: Cushy homes’ allotment come under scanner

SC takes notice of illegal allotments, housing ministry’s attitude.

ISLAMABAD:

While bureaucrats well-connected with the housing ministry or lower judiciary can often get hold of excellent official residences in Islamabad, caution cannot be thrown to the wind anymore. The residential units’ allocations have come under the scanner of the Supreme Court.

On Friday, the apex court directed the housing secretary to submit a detailed report on unauthorised allotments of official residences in the capital.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and judges Ijaz Afzal and Sheikh Azmat Saeed directed the secretary to also submit details about cases pending before civil courts and stay orders that had been issued.

The bench also directed the district and sessions judges for east and west to present details on cases involving allocation and possession of official residences by March 7.

“There are a number of cases pending with the courts under frivolous litigation as the occupants, mostly unauthorised, have obtained stay orders from the courts,” said acting Housing Secretary Amina Imran Khan.



She said there were as many as 250 housing units occupied by the Islamabad police and another 150 by Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) employees, while staff from other organisations had also prolonged their unauthorised occupation of government properties after obtaining stay orders from the courts.

“What you have done to get the stay orders vacated? It seems your staff is part of the problem,” remarked Justice Saeed in response to the secretary’s statement.

The issue drew the court’s ire on Thursday during hearing on a case of illegal occupation of a quarter in G-6/2. The bench learnt that an assistant estate officer (AEO) had issued an allocation letter while the matter was pending before the court.

AEO Nazir Ahmed was suspended on Thursday and the secretary informed the bench that he was directed by Minister of State for Housing and Works Malik Nauman Ahmed Langriyal to issue an allotment letter in favour of Faisal Butt, who is said to be an employee of Higher Education Commission.

The AEO said Ayub Jan, the enforcement estate officer, was acting as the minister’s man in the ministry. Ahmed said, Jan verbally abused him and forced him to issue the allotment letter that was later withdrawn when he learnt the matter was pending before the SC.

On the other hand, the acting housing secretary informed the bench that after an initial inquiry, she learnt that Ahmed had issued the orders on his own without taking his superiors into confidence.

Jan was on leave and would be questioned after he returned to work, she said.

Muhammad Asif, an FBR employee, had approached the SC after his plea against cancellation of the allotment of a quarter by the estate office was dismissed by the Islamabad High Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2013.