The timely intervention of Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat helped saving hundreds and thousands of rupees of government officials willing to get their own roofs under the projects of Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) and Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF).
The appropriate action taken by the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat on several complaints of mal-administration against the PHA on account of high cost of project launched in Sector I-16/3 apartments, Islamabad has also compelled the PHA and FGEHF to reconsider the costs of apartments in the said sector.
In its landmark directions, the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat directed the investigative audit of PHA and FGEHF and restricted both the Agencies for new projects until the present are completed and delivered to their members. The Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat has also directed the PHA and FGEHF to decided all cases of refund in the next thirty days and said that both the organizations will have to intimate to the applicants in future regarding their entitlement or non-entitlement and in case of non-entitlement, the amount/registration fee will be refunded to the applicants.
It was also directed that a strategy should be designed for escalation of costs of projects and further escalation will not be applied/received from the applicants until it is considered and approved by the Boards of these Organizations. The directions came on several complaints filed with the Wafaqi Mohtasib Secretariat making demands to adjust their accrued right of allotment in the Executive apartments in Sector G-10/2 or G-11/4 as per the pledge in the letter of PHA dated August 4, 2015.
Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar, Senior Advisor (Law) and Grievance Commissioner for Overseas Pakistanis was the Investigation Officer of the cases who held several hearings of the complaints. During the proceedings, the PHA and FGEHF submitted that the approved cost per apartment was Rs 4,675,000 with 15 percent down payment with 12 quarterly installments which was later on revised to Rs 3,950,000 with 20 quarterly installments.
It was further apprised that the previous installment plan was announced in 2011, when the net covered area was 575 sqft while the apartments offered have net covered area of about 950 sqft which has warranted increased cost. On the other hand, the complainants submitted that the instant project has been launched without proper working of the cost of project and without considering the paying capacity of government servants which was much higher than it was originally launched in the year of 2009.
They also submitted that the Agency's offered price to the successful applicants was against the PHA slogan "low costs to the government employees" and according to them further escalation of the project was unjustified which resultantly tantamount to excessive and arbitrary which need to be rectified in the interest of government servant and justice.
The Managing Director PHA submitted that after issuing the advertisement of Sector I/16 apartments, several reservations have been received, however as far as the costs of these apartments was concerned, the PHA Board will be requested to reconsider its earlier decision.
Secretary Ministry of Housing and Works and Managing Director PHA have made their statements with the new line of action that the issue of costs of apartments were being reconsidered and the interest of members/ Government servants will be taken care of in the next Board meeting wherein all the proposals will be submitted before the members for a fresh decision. Later, Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar, Senior Advisor (Law) closed down the cases for further investigation after these recommendations.-PR
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