June 19, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 14, 1429

LAHORE, June 18: The Punjab Election Authority, headed by former caretaker chief minister Ejaz Nisar, is allegedly eating up huge funds without having any work.

The authority was created under the Local Government Ordinance 1979 to hold local council elections. The last time it performed was in 1998. It became redundant after the promulgation of the Local Government Ordinance 2001 because the Musharraf government handed over the responsibility of holding the local council elections to the Pakistan Election Commission.

But the authority continued to exist with a low profile despite having no assignment till 2007 when its chairman was made the caretaker chief minister of the province. Justice Ejaz Nisar (retired) resumed his office after induction of the new government, and now the authority is more prosperous than ever as regards its office premises, officers and other benefits.

Until recently, the authority was situated in a private house near the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, costing a monthly rent of Rs40,000.

Now it has new offices in a bungalow near the Shadman crossing, carrying a monthly rent of Rs200,000.

It has two BS-21 officers, Shoaib bin Aziz (provincial information service) and Hamid Shah (DMG). Both were provincial secretaries before they were dumped into the authority by the present government.

The third member, Muhammad Ashraf, is also a DMG BS-20 officer while Chaudhry Shaukat Ali is in BS-20 and is the secretary of the authority.

Each of the members has a 1,300cc car with drivers and free petrol. The chairman has more than one vehicle. The offices are air-conditioned and have telephone and other facilities.

The authority has nearly 60-member staff, half of which was sent to the Pakistan Election Commission. But all are getting salaries from the provincial election authority.

“The officers and the staff come daily here and return home without doing anything because there is no work to be done. Its sheer wastage of manpower and government funds,” says an insider.