ISLAMABAD, April 22: Despite Supreme Court instructions that government accommodations in the federal capital should be allotted on merit, the ministry of housing has not banned exchange of houses which has allegedly become a source of corruption.

However, allotment to employees with disabilities, which was allowed by the apex court, has been banned, it has been learnt.

According to documents available with Dawn, on April 8, 2013, the apex court instructed the ministry to review all the allotments made after March 7, 2013, on which a suo motu case about illegal allotments was last heard. The court also ordered that if any allotment had been made in violation of merit it must be reconsidered.

Besides, during the hearing of the case, the court had ordered that all allotments should be made on the basis of the general waiting list (GWL).

“Rule 12 of the Accommodation Allocation Rules 2002 allows exchange of a house with some other vacant house or one to be vacated in the near future. Officers allegedly prepare a fake allotment of a house and on the basis of that file a case for exchange of an allotment,” said an officer in the ministry on the condition of anonymity.

“Under this rule of exchange, the estate office allotted more than 350 houses in 2012 and 2013. Among these, 195 houses were allotted under category V, 55 under category-IV, 75 under category-III, 10 under category-II and 15 other houses,” he said. Out of the employees allotted houses under this rule, 90 per cent were young people with their dates of birth between 1976 and 1987. On the other hand, employees aged between 50 and 60 years are still waiting for allotments, he said.

However, the court allowed Rule 29-A with the directions that relaxation under this clause should not be often exercised except in genuine hardship cases.

Rule 29-A states that houses can be allotted to employees with disabilities and their cases will be considered separately.

In view of the court orders, the ministry of housing through a notification on April 15 (available with Dawn) instructed the estate office to update and streamline the record and send monthly reports of vacation and occupation of houses to the ministry.

The estate office was also directed that allotment of accommodation may only be made on its availability on the eve of retirement, death and dismissal from service of any allottee.

It was further intimated that allotments made under Rule 29-A, but not in possession of the allottees may be treated as cancelled to ensure allotment on merit.

The ministry officer said though the court had shown flexibility regarding Rule 29A, the ministry had cancelled all allotments made under this clause. On the other hand, Rule 12 was not even mentioned in the notification though it has been a major source of corruption in the ministry.

“The estate office is responsible for allotting all the 16,734 housing units to federal government employees in the capital but those who have no links with influential personalities or cannot grease the palms of the officials concerned have been waiting for the allotments for years,” he said.

A government employee, who was allotted a house under Rule 29, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that he got possession of a house on April 16 but came to know that just a day before the allotment had been cancelled. “So I filed a petition with the court and obtained a stay order on April 20,” he said.

Professor Deedar Ali Baloch, the general secretary of the Federal Government College Teachers Association, told Dawn: “The housing issue is so agonising that it keeps the employees preoccupied with the concern whether they would ever be living in an official house or remain at the mercy of private house owners.”

When contacted, Secretary Housing Nasar Hayat confirmed that Rule 12 had not been banned. He, however, claimed that he had given verbal orders that exchange of houses would not be allowed.

“When I took the charge, there were so many problems and violations in allotments. But I have been trying my best to ensure transparency. As long as I am here, I will not allow any illegal allotment and will ensure the implementation of the Supreme Court orders in letter and spirit.”

The secretary said he had directed a door-to-door survey to find out allotments in violation of rules. “At the moment, I am devising a policy to facilitate those government servants who come from out of the city,” he said.