Stopping the rot

While there is considerable unease about Supreme Court exercising its suo motu powers rather excessively, the officialdom has repeatedly shown an uninhibited propensity to violate rules and regulations for self-benefit. The latest case is that of illegally occupied official residences. A two-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was informed by the Additional Attorney General (AAG) on Wednesday that as many as 140 apartments in Islamabad's G-6 sector were illegally occupied by police officers. This has gone in utter disregard of the apex court's evacuation orders issued five years ago. It exemplifies how the bureaucracy can go to any lengths to protect and preserve undeserved privileges at the expense of deserving people. Those entitled to live in government-provided housing units have to wait for their turn, which cannot come until and unless illegal occupancy is vacated.
As expected of him the CJ asked the official concerned, Secretary of Housing and Works Department, what gave the government officers the courage to illegally occupy official residences? The answer for non-compliance with the evacuation order was as flimsy as could be: "we have been unable to evacuate flats because of a shortage of manpower." The difficulty though has not been lack of manpower, but the will to do the right thing. The manpower needed for such operations, of course, comes from the police. And since many of the illegal occupants belong to the police force, their brother officers would not act against them. Nonetheless, the numbers the AAG quoted betrayed misrepresentation. In Islamabad alone, he said, 200 official residences - the originally mentioned number was 140 - have been occupied by police officers, adding "we apprised the IG Islamabad, but he is not cooperating with us."
Under further questioning by the court, it turned out that the problem is not restricted to the police. The AAG further upped the number of illegible occupants saying currently more than 543 houses are illegally occupied, which merits the question why he had earlier been talking first of 140 residences, then 200? Because they were taken by people other than police officers. One of them was allotted to a journalist's wife. Since her eligibility could not be justified, it follows the allotment was a return favour for the services the husband may be rendering to the government. The situation in other cities is not any different. When it comes to their interests, barring a few honourable exceptions, the bureaucrats as well as their political bosses do not think much of flouting the law. Things being what they are, the Supreme Court's observations inspire confidence that the example set in the present case would discourage others from claiming undue benefits. The court has adjourned the hearing till August 31, but not without the warning that Rangers would be called in if illegally occupied government residences in the federal capital are not evacuated within a month.