LAHORE, Nov 28: The report of precious state land possession by the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Lahore, without paying any price stirred the Punjab Assembly into action on Friday as the speaker sought a report over the issue.

Rana Muhammad Iqbal asked the law minister to depute an honest officer of the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team (CMIT) to investigate the matter and report to the house for its consideration in the next session.

The issue was raised during question hour on the revenue and colonies department.A heated debate on the subject ensued as Revenue Minister Haji Muhammad Ishaq informed the house that the DHA had taken Punjab government’s 4,638 kanal land without paying even a penny.

PML-N MPA Mian Naseer Ahmad, who had tabled the question, said the price of the land taken over by the DHA was in billions and demanded that the house should immediately form a committee to investigate the matter and ask the DHA to pay the land price, which would help government come out of financial crisis.

Considering the situation, the speaker expressed his intention to form a house committee to inquire into the matter.

Law minister Rana Sanaullah confronted the constitution of a house committee, saying that any inquiry conducted by the house committee would be termed political victimisation and would not serve the purpose.

Admitting that there were gross irregularities in the case, Sanaullah suggested that the inquiry should either be conducted by the CMIT or the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) so that action could be taken against the responsible on the recommendation of the inquiry.

If a committee was formed from within the house, the law minister said, it would finalise its report in at least two months time and it would take another two months to table the report in the house.

Later, the house would consider committee’s recommendations and then ask the CMIT or the ACE for holding a formal inquiry, which would be required for the registration of an FIR.

Naseer said it was highly imperative to constitute a committee from within the house because it would also identify the collaboration or connivance of Board of Revenue (BoR) officials, so that an action could be taken against them also.

Sheikh Allauddin said that only an inquiry committee constituted by the house would be able to exert pressure on the DHA.

Another MPA said that the government must not come under pressure and constitute a committee so that all culprits could be identified.

Naseer said when the house was reluctant in constituting a committee, how any department official would be able to recommend any action against the DHA?

Opposition member Ijaz Shafi said when MPAs from treasury benches were asking for the formation of a committee, the speaker should form a committee with a direction to submit its report within seven days.

Consequently, a number of members started shouting for the constitution of a committee.

This heated debate took a new turn when Sanaullah said that this very question was submitted in April and its reply from the BoR could reach the house in over seven months time.

He said the government department’s working had been corrupted during the last nine years. “The faces, who corrupted the government departments, are sitting in front of us,” he added.

This comment drew a strong reaction from the opposition members, causing a rumpus particularly when treasury members hurled corruption charges against the opposition’s.