ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Thursday expressed concerns over violations of the provincial quota in appointments made by subsidiary organisations of the Ministry of Housing during the last about a decade.

“The appointments made post 2010 in Pakistan Housing Authority, Federal Government Employees Housing Authority and Estate Office were reviewed in detail. The committee members expressed their concern over the grave violation of the provincial quota in the appointments,” said a press release issued by the Senate Secretariat after the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works.

The committee met at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Haji Hidayatullah Khan. During the course of meeting, members showed concerns over the violation of provincial quota in appointments after 2010.

The chairman instructed the authorities that in the next meeting the details of the educational qualifications, domicile, recruitment procedure and provincial quota of the recruited employees should be presented.

Officials told to submit details of qualifications and domicile of employees

He also directed the secretary housing to investigate and take action against officials involved in illegal and meritless appointments and inform the committee about the details.

“Matter of illegal allotment of plots by PHA, Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) was also considered. DG FGEHA was of the view that the allotment of all plots has been done in a transparent manner by adopting the prevailing procedure,” the press release said.

It, however, added that the chairman of the committee inquired under which law plots were allotted to previous DGs and officers of the authority.

The committee was told that the allotment to the officers had been done after approval of the board of the authority. The chairman of the committee instructed to investigate the matter and submit a report to the committee.

At the outset, the committee members expressed their reservations over the absence of the concerned minister in the meeting.

The chairman informed the members that the minister was visiting his native flood-affected area in Balochistan and that was why he could not attend the meeting.

The chairman instructed the secretary housing and works to convey a message to the minister to ensure his participation in the upcoming meetings.

A detailed discussion was held on the question raised in the Senate session by Bahramand Khan Tangi regarding the rental ceiling provided to employees of scale one to two. Senator Tangi was of the opinion that the rental ceiling of scale one to two employees was very low and it was impossible to rent a house in Islamabad and Rawalpindi within such an amount.

He suggested that the rental ceiling of employees of one to 10 scale should be the same. The secretary housing said that the matter of increase in the ceiling amount was related to the Ministry of Finance and his ministry would take up the issue with the finance ministry.

The Public Works Department (PWD) submitted a report regarding projects and utilisation of funds in Malakand Division. The committee members questioned why certain contractors were awarded contracts.

The chairman expressed serious reservations regarding officials not being able to provide satisfactory answer to the questions asked by the members regarding these companies. The chairman deferred consideration of the matter till the next meeting.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2022