The Cabinet Division will approach Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani for final decision on a dispute regarding ownership of the 3,800 acres of agricultural land in Sindh, as the provincial government did not acknowledge the federal government's claim on the land.
Abandoned Properties Organisation (APO) possesses the land in Sindh, which has been notified as abandoned property. APO was in dispute with the Board of Revenue, Sindh government regarding ownership of the land, which did not give possession of the said land to APO for one reason or the other and demanded of the federal government to revert it to Sindh government.
This agricultural land was taken over only on paper and its physical possession is still awaited. The chunks of land are located in six districts of Sindh which were leased to local people by the respective Deputy Commissioners. The government of Sindh had raised claim against the agricultural lands abandoned by the specified persons on the ground that the persons had drawn Taccavi loans, which were not returned by them before they left West Pakistan on or after December 1971.
The Federal Cabinet had decided in 1993 that agricultural lands would be returned to the government of Sindh for transfer to the present tenants at market price. However, this decision was not implemented during the period from 1993 to 2008. Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sehti, on Thursday informed the PAC sub-committee that according to APO report most of the lands were being cultivated by the local people of the concerned districts, who are in possession of these lands since long.
"We have asked the provincial authorities to submit a details of the land occupants." Another official of cabinet revealed that this dispute would be taken to the Prime Minister for a way out. On one point, federal Auditor General pointed out that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) did not get approval of their budget by the parent ministry.
During review, Member Committee Sardar Ayaz Sadiq criticised the Chairman PTA for issuance of a notification, which empowers him to take any decision by ignoring other two members of the PTA board. However, chairman PTA denied this charge.
The committee was also informed that PTA had been following the pay scale of the federal government since its establishment but certain allowances and financial benefits were being allowed to their employees by the authority without approval of the Finance Division in violation of the standing orders of the ministry.
To this, Secretary Cabinet responded that a governance committee had been constituted which not only looks into services scales of PTA but other autonomous bodies too. In an audit review for the year 1992-93, Secretary Commerce Zafar Mahmood said a ban had been imposed for last nine months on the foreign postings of trade officers after ministry failed to vacate stay order of the court on these postings. He further said that Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has no legal status to constitute the board. He said Supreme Court of Pakistan nullified 32 Ordinances and asked the government to get approval from the parliament.