• PAC endorses proposals to stop distribution of plots
• Housing secretary told to develop criteria where FG employees get only one plot

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) is set to end quota system in the upcoming housing schemes.

This was revealed during a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday which was examining the audit report of the FGEHA for the year 2018-19 as well as a report on its new sectors F-14, F-15 and G-13 towers.

It may be mentioned here that on Aug 17 the FGEHA allotted 4,723 plots in F-14 and F-15 to federal government officials from BS-16 to BS-22, judges of superior and subordinate judiciary as well as lawyers.

There are about 50 judges of the superior courts including Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Musheer Alam, Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed, Justice Maqbool Baqir, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan who have been allotted plots in F-14 and F-15.

Among the retired judges who got plots are Justice Faisal Arab, Justices Ejaz Afzal Khan, Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Amir Hani Muslim, Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court Rana Mohammad Shamim, Sheikh Najamul Hassan and Riaz Ahmed Khan.

The authority had allotted two plots each to Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Faisal Arab as per their entitlement for being a Supreme Court judge.

The FGEHA, formerly known as Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation, was established to provide shelter to employees of the federal government only, however, on Nov 8, 1999, the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench, while hearing a case related to the acquisition of land for G-13, had prescribed the criteria for allotment of plots to judges of the superior courts.

The bench had also given directions to include employees of autonomous and semi-autonomous organisations, the Election Commission of Pakistan, Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court, LHC Rawalpindi Bench, National Assembly, senior members of the armed forces, journalists, doctors, engineers and lawyers.

Last week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC), while hearing a petition related to a dispute between the FGEHA and land owners, suspended the allotment of plots to over 60 judges of Islamabad’s judiciary and also sought a report from the authority on the allotment of plots to a few strata.

The auditors pointed out that the FGEHA director general had allowed journalists and media workers to register and become members and fixed 2 per cent quota for them, adding that they did not fall in the federal government employees’ category.

The housing secretary told the PAC that on the direction of the LHC in 1999, the then prime minister had asked the erstwhile housing foundation’s board to allot plots to other groups as well, adding that recently the issue was discussed in detail at the departmental accounts committee (DAC) meeting which decided to end quota set for journalists, doctors, lawyers or any other group in federal government housing societies.

Replying to PML-N leader Khawaja Asif’s question regarding the definition of a federal government employee, the secretary said all those who drew salary from the federal exchequer fell in the category.

“Plots are given to others while politicians are hurled abuses as fringe benefits,” he said, adding that “take a decision and ban it now”.

The PAC endorsed the recommendations to end distribution of plots through quota system.

During the meeting, PAC Chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain said people were dying to get food but some elite, including judges, always found a way to get plots, adding that judges could even increase their own salaries.

As the PAC members discussed that MNAs’ basic salary was Rs150,000 and they could not even ask for a plot, Mr Hussain said judges had been getting plots since long and he knew many.

Besides, he said some heads of government institutions were taking Rs7 to Rs8 million in salaries.

Replying to an objection that some journalists sold their plots, Mushahid Hussain Syed said government employees and army officials also did the same, asking whether anyone had taken back plots from them.

“It should be across the board,” he said, asking can the process of taking back plots be started from government employees. “Journalists are already an oppressed community,” he added.

The PAC chairman asked the housing secretary to develop some kind of criteria under which federal government employees can get only one plot.

Giving an example of the Indian city of Chandigarh, Rana Tanveer Hussain said it was a clean city and not everyone could get a plot there.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2021