Violation of rules: Permission to live in govt residence after retirement sought

He has requested retention of residence for 3 years after retirement.

LAHORE:

The government is likely to allow Cabinet division Secretary Sami Saeed to retain his official residence for the duration of his posting as Asian Development Bank executive director in Manila, The Express Tribune has learnt. 

A Service and General Administration Department officer, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune that Saeed, a Pakistan Administrative Service BS-22 officer, is scheduled to retire from service on January 4, 2015 on attaining the age of superannuation. The allotment policy last amended in 2010 states that a retired officer will not be allotted a house. An officer may retain a house allotted to him for up to eight months after retirement.

Retiring officers are required to submit an undertaking that they would vacate the residence on the expiry of the permissible extension. The undertaking is signed by two guarantors who have to be officers allotted government residences. In case of a violation, the guarantors’ allotments are cancelled without notice. A civil servant who is reemployed by the Punjab or federal government is not allotted official residence as per rules.



Saeed was posted away from the Punjab government when he was appointed as cabinet secretary on April 7, 2013. As per rules, an officer posted from the provincial service to the federal government can retain his official residence for a period of two years.

Sharif appointed Saeed the executive director of the Asian Development Bank in Manila in November. He will replace Siraj Shamsuddin, whose four-year term as executive director is about to end.

During first week of December 2013, Saeed requested the Punjab government to allow him to retain the house allotted to him [4-Aikman Road, GOR-I] during his four-year posting in Manila.

The chief minister’s secretariat has directed the Punjab chief secretary to draw a proposal that would allow Saeed to retain the residence as requested. An official close to the chief minister’s secretariat said it was likely that he will be granted that request.

The S&GAD officer said that Saeed will retire on January 4 next year and should be allowed to retain official residence for only eight months after his retirement according to the rules laid in the Policy Governing Allotment of Government Residences 2010.

Punjab Management Services Officers’ Association Information Secretary Ahmad Khawar Shahzad said allowing Saeed to keep his residence for three years after retirement would be a glaring violation of policy.

He said Saeed would be getting a dollar-denominated salary so that it could not be argued that he could not afford a residence on his own.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2014.