LAHORE, Oct 25: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered the Punjab government to constitute special task forces at district level to keep an eye on corrupt practices of patwaris and to entertain public complaints against them.

The order was issued by Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry hearing two petitions against some patwaris for receiving illegal gratification from petitioners for issuing them mutation deed (Fard-i-Milkiat).

Additional Advocate-General Muhammad Hanif Khatana informed the court that 14 patwaris had been terminated from service while 19 others suspended on allegation of corruption. At this the chief justice remarked that the suspended patwaris will be reinstated by the next date of hearing and stressed the need for taking solid steps to root out the menace of corruption.

The law officer informed the court that an audit committee formed by the chief minister was also working on the same issue.

Justice Chaudhry observed that special task forces should be set up at district level to monitor performance of patwaris. He said due to failure of government in removing public miseries, the courts had to do the job. He regretted that the patwaris not only received bribe from public but also misappropriated government fees. They also passed on share to tehsildars and naib tehsildars, the CJ added.

Lahore DCO Ahad Cheema was also present in the court and stated that the government was taking effective measures to eliminate corruption among patwaris.

The CJ adjourned hearing till Dec 14 and directed the additional advocate general to come up with compliance report.

In the first petition, Ahmad Ali Waris of Mandi Bahauddin submitted that a patwari forced him to bribe him as he was not issuing his mutation deed but even then the said patwari did not do the needful.

The court was informed that several inquiries were conducted against corruption of patwaris and some of them had been found guilty. He said it had come to fore that guilty patwaris had not deposited mutation fee with the national exchequer for 10 years that had caused loss worth Rs800 million to the exchequer.

In the second case, Khalid Saeed submitted that on his writ petition a high court bench had directed patwari of Kahna circle to issue him the mutation deed without any delay, but the patwari ignored the orders. He said he also approached the DCO for the implementation of court orders but in vain. The petitioner sought contempt of court proceedings against the patwari and DCO for not complying with the court orders. In this case the petitioner had been issued the deed after the court took strict notice of patwaris delinquency and summoned the authorities.