March 25, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

ISLAMABAD, March 24: Of the 2,745 official accommodations allotted out of turn to federal government employees since 2005, 322 were allotted by the caretaker setup in the last four months alone.

This information was provided to the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works which met here under its chairman, Senator Dr Mohammad Ali Brohi, on Monday.

“Hardships” of the beneficiaries were cited as the reason for the out-of-turn allotments.

A member of the committee, Senator Liaquat Ali Bangalzai, told Dawn that the committee discussed in detail various issues pertaining to out-of-turn allotments made by the government.

The committee decided to look into the matter as it believed that housing was a crucial issue, which merited special attention to resolve the issue on war footing and provide accommodation to the low-paid employees.

The committee was given a detailed briefing on the names, designation and the ministries/divisions/departments of the government employees to whom accommodation had been allotted in Islamabad on out-of-turn basis in relaxation of rules since 2005.

The issue was raised by Senator Liaquat Ali Bangalzai in the Senate in which he asked the minister for housing and works to state the names, designation, basic pay scales and the ministries, divisions and departments of the government employees to whom accommodation had been allotted, besides indicating the reasons for these allotments and the number of allotments made according to general waiting list.

Minister for Housing and Works Nisar Mohammad Khan admitted the fact that housing problem was getting more complicated and the need was to launch joint ventures on public-private partnership basis.

He said the ministry had also been assigned the work of housing schemes on ownership basis for the federally constituted occupational groups, besides the construction of 37,000 apartments on ownership basis to the low-paid federal government servants.

The committee assured its all-out support to the ministry in overcoming various difficulties.

The committee was also given a comprehensive briefing on bringing the Capital Development Authority (CDA) under the administrative control of the Ministry of Housing and Works rather than the Cabinet Division.

During the proceedings, the Ministry of Housing and Works was directed by the Senate standing committee to give a detailed briefing in its next meeting on the need to place the CDA under its control.

It was observed that placement of the CDA under various ministries had hampered its performance very badly due to which neither proper attention was paid to the development of Islamabad nor sufficient sectors were acquired to ease the housing problems of the federal government employees.

Besides the chairman, the meeting was attended by senators Hafiz Abdul Malik Qadri, Shujaul Mulk, Bibi Yasmeen Shah, Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Sardar Mohammad Jamal Khan Leghari, Mir Mohabat Khan Marri, Sardar Mehmud Khan, Maulana Rahat Hussain, Farooq Hamid Naek, Syed Mohammad Hussain and Mohammad Saleh Shah. Secretary and senior official of the ministry and the estate officer were also present.

Meanwhile, the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat took a strong exception to the observations made by the secretary Establishment Division in response to the letter written by the acting Senate chairman, Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali, recently on the issue of appointment of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) chairman, conveying the concern of the upper house in this regard.

A number of senators agitated the matter during the previous session of the Senate, terming it arbitrary and against the rules and the acting Senate chairman referred it to the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat.

The chairman and members of the committee, which met at the Parliament House on Monday, were of the view that the secretary’s reply to the acting chairman was derogatory and constituted a serious breach of the privilege of the upper house as well as the acting Senate chairman.

The members demanded that the secretary should be summoned in the next meeting of the committee to explain his position before the members.

The committee chairman, Senator Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi, assured that he would take up the matter with the authorities concerned and no one would be allowed to bring the upper house into disrepute let alone a public servant.

The issue of appointment of Nepra chairman NEPRA was raised by the media and a number of senators brought the matter into the notice of the acting Senate chairman during the previous session of the Senate.

The parliamentary committees are, in all democracies, considered to be an extension of the parliament itself and have the same privileges as that of the house.