The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed Sindh Revenue Department (SRD) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to resolve their 24-year-old land dispute and provide details to the parliamentary panel within a week. While discussing and reviewing the audit paras of the CAA, a subcommittee of the PAC, which met here with MNA Shahida Akhtar Ali in the chair, issued these directives to the officials of the SRD and CAA.
The officials of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) informed the panel that as a result of not handing over the land to the Sindh Building Control Authority by the CAA, Rs 5.48 billion financial losses incurred to Sindh.
The officials informed the panel that despite directions of the PAC to the CAA, the land was not returned to the government of Sindh. The officials said that in 2008 a committee was constituted to settle the land dispute between Sindh Building Control Authority and the CAA by demarcating the land and the CAA had handed over 2.2 acres of land to the Sindh government.
The officials of CAA told the panel that the 2.2 acres of land, returned to the provincial government, were not the property of the CAA; therefore, the Authority agreed to hand over the land to the Sindh government.
The officials of AGP responding to the reply of the CAA said that as per a letter of CAA directed to the Ministry of Defence, the Authority has claimed that the land was property of the CAA and not of the Sindh government.
The officials of the Sindh Revenue Department said that title documents were in the name of the Sindh government. The committee directed the Sindh Revenue Department to demarcate the disputed land within a week and submit the report with the panel so that the panel can settle it.
The officials of AGP told the committee that as a result of not handing over the land to the Sindh Building Control Authority by the CAA, Rs 5.48 billion financial losses incurred to Sindh. The meeting was informed that over the past 6 years, the PAC and subcommittees of the PAC time and again directed the CAA to hand over the land to the Sindh government but the Authority didn't vacate the land.
The PAC has already rejected the suggestion of audit officials of refereeing the matter to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for an inquiry. The committee directed the concerned officials to implement the PAC directives. Since 1995 the authorities have demarcated the land many times but every time a new dispute emerged, the officials of APG told the panel.
Responding to the audit objections, the officials of the CAA said that during the boundary setting process of disputed land, the concerned department of the Sindh government told the CAA that the land under discussion was not the property of the Sindh Building Control Authority. The CAA officials further said that the two pieces of land situated in district Malir were handed over to the Sindh government.
The AGP officials objected the response of the CAA and said that in 2013 the authority said that it was going to probe the subject. After that it had also been decided a detailed report of the matter will be issued but as yet nothing has happened.
The CAA officials told the panel that the Authority is ready to share all the details and record with the AGP officials on the matter under discussion. The AGP officials said if the CAA had taken this decision in 2013, Rs 5.48 billion financial losses incurred to national kitty could have been averted.
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