Govt accommodations: CDA cancels out-of-turn allotments

Plots due for vacation would often be given to its own employees.


Danish Hussain July 10, 2014

ISLAMABAD:


The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has cancelled all out-of-turn allotments of official accommodations to its employees.


The decision has been taken in light of the Supreme Court’s decision on the issue.

These allotments were made subject to vacation of houses by their current occupants upon retirement from government service. The decision would impact hundreds of allotments made after October 19, 2011. These out-of-turn allotments were made after relaxing Accommodation Allocation Rules 2002.

A CDA administration wing notification, available with The Express Tribune, says that in future, all allotments will be made strictly on merit and will follow the general waiting list. It further reads that unnecessary exercise of relaxation in accommodation rules will not be put into effect, except in cases of hardship and that too by recording justifiable reasons for the same and after hearing the affected employees on the general waiting list.

A general waiting list is compiled on the basis of seniority in government service, but it is rarely followed, as employees having connections in the bureaucracy or with politicians can usually manage allotments without adhering to the rules and regulations.

A 2011 SC judgment has been cited as a reference point in the notification. The court had decided against making out-of-turn allotments which ignore the general waiting list.

The illegal practice remain in vogue as there are a limited number of government houses available with the CDA to house over 15,000 employees. For the financial year 2014-15, the CDA has allocated Rs100 million for the construction of flats for low-grade employees in Sector I-15.

Earlier, in August 2013, the incumbent CDA chairman withdrew the discretionary powers to make out-of-turn allotments from his office, the office of the CDA administration member, and the administration director general.

There are currently 1,729 houses in nine different categories in the CDA’s pool. There are 670 houses in the G-series if sectors for employees from grade 1 to 4, 456 houses for officials of grade 5 and 6, 321 for officials of grade 7 to 10, 157 for employees of grade 11 to 15, and 100 for officers of grade 16 and 17. There are nine, seven and four houses for officials of grade 18, grade 19 and 20 respectively. Additional official lodging for senior officers is available in Sector F-7.

Because of the huge gap between the number of employees and housing units in the civic agency’s pool, the employees solicits illegal recommendations from influential officers and even parliamentarians and ministers to get houses allotted.

A CDA administration wing official said the number of officials on the general waiting list has crossed 4,000, while houses in CDA’s pool are ‘booked out’ till 2016.

The official said a provision that had worsened the situation over the years was the preferential clause that permits the child of an employee to stake a claim on a house allotted to a parent if he or she is hired by the CDA. The allotment of houses to such families has surged to over 800.

Some 30 officials managed to get houses above the level of their entitlement, the official said, adding some 175 houses are under litigation because of out-of-turn allotments.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2014.

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