LAHORE, June 30: A three-member committee has been constituted to hold an inquiry against seven employees of the Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) for committing irregularities in the booking of plots at the Sundar Road small industrial estate. The four officers and three officials were being proceeded against jointly in the light of a preliminary probe which found them directly or indirectly involved in bogus allotment of 87 plots at the estate when no plot was available there.

Officials said on Thursday that director Shaheen Khawar, joint directors Chaudhry Altaf and Khalilur Rahman, deputy director Ameen Malik, clerk Khaliq Mahmood, accounts clerk Akhtar Ali and cashier Qadeer were attached with the PSIC’s directorate of administration at the head office.

The employees, who had been suspended from service, were accused of receiving cheques instead of bank drafts. They even accepted post-dated cheques and did not deposit them in time to get time for their maturity. Some of the cheques either were dishonoured or not debited in the PSIC account. Some cheques were used against two different applications.

In some cases, ORs were issued without receiving the requisite amount. Unauthorized people sold forms and issued ORs.

The accused officials also violated the government decision to reserve 25 per cent quota for the PLAs. Six bank drafts of the PLAs expired because of non-opening of foreign currency accounts in time.

Headed by PSIC managing director Imtiaz Rasool and comprising director (F&A) Anfas Yunus and director (ED&W) Tariq Mahmood, the committee had been directed to complete the inquiry proceedings and submit its report to the PSIC managing director.