Members of lower judiciary: Policy guidelines on allotment of plots sought from federal cabinet

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Housing Authority has sought guideline from Prime Minister Imran Khan and the federal cabinet for formulation of a transparent criteria/policy for allotments of residential plots to lower judiciary; however, only federal employees are eligible to get plots in the capital city in the future.

Secretary Ministry Housing and Works Dr Imran Zeb Khan shared this information with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which met under Chairman Rana Tanvir Hussain, on Monday.

The committee examined the audit reports of the Ministry of Housing and Works for financial years, 2018-19 and 2019-20.

The committee took notice of some media reports related to allotment of plots to judiciary and federal secretaries in posh sectors, F-14 and F-15 through balloting.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended the allotment of plots to the lower judiciary and directed the Housing Ministry to formulate a fresh policy for their allotment keeping in view conflict of interest.

The secretary said that in 2016, the plots were allotted on the basis of seniority and those employees eligible who were applying for the first time, however, the authority did not have services record of the lower judiciary.

In this particular case, former chief justice IHC forwarded the list of lower judiciary, which the Housing Ministry considered for allotments.

The committee, however, did not take cases of reportedly allotments of plots to Special Assistants to the Prime Minister (SAPMs), but sought legal opinion from the Law Ministry on present and previous allotment of plots to federal government employees and other allotees include journalists, doctors etc.

The Secretary Housing said the government had discontinued practice of allotment of plots to other than federal employees who draw their salaries from federal consolidated fund since prorogation of the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA).

The Auditor General of Pakistan raised objection over allotment of plots by previous regimes, which the committee set aside following explanation from the secretary housing.

He said the policy to allot plots other than federal employees was adopted after the approval from the prime minister, Board of Housing Foundation, and the Lahore High Court’s decision.

The audit report highlighted that the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) allowed the registration and membership to journalists, media workers, and allowed two percent quota to both of the categories, both categories do not fall under the federal government employees.

The chairman remarked that he knew many judges who obtained plots from the government after submission of affidavits that they did not own any plot.

Responding to his observations, the secretary said that affidavits were taken from federal employees that they did not own any plots from the government.

He said the authority developed the sector from the funds received from officers and it was a misconception that the federal government doled out plots free of cost.

He said the balloting of F-14, F-15 was conducted for those who applied for 2016.

The sector received 80,000 applications against 6,000 plots.

He further said that the new authority decided to end compensations and adopted model of land sharing while acquiring land.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021