LAHORE: Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz ordered the removal of Jhang deputy commissioner after a video on social media showed a Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (PERA) double-cabin vehicle, meant to crack down on hoarding, price-gouging and encroachment, escorting a private desert rally in the district.
Taking serious notice of the blatant misuse of state resources for non-official, “non-serious” purposes, the chief minister ordered the DC’s removal with immediate effect on Sunday.
“The deployment of the regulatory authority’s resources for non-serious purposes, beyond its officially prescribed mandate, constitutes a serious breach of administrative discipline and a violation of established policy. In view of this matter, the Deputy Commissioner is being removed from the post with immediate effect,” the chief minister said in a stern statement.
Responding promptly, the Services & General Administration Department (S&GAD) notified the transfer of Jhang Deputy Commissioner Babar Sahib Din with immediate effect and directed him to report to the department for further orders.
The video showed that during a privately organised desert rally in Jhang from Oct 16 to 18, a PERA double-cabin vehicle was escorting the rally participants’ vehicles.
In a related development, Pera Director General retired Capt Farrukh Atiq Khan had to write to all deputy commissioners, who also serve as ex-officio chairpersons of the District Enforcement and Regulatory Boards (DERBs), across Punjab, seeking immediate withdrawal of unauthorised vehicle allocations, exposing how widely official vehicles had been turned into personal protocol squads.
The DG’s letter says it has been observed that Pera double-cabin vehicles issued to the DCs for field operations exclusively, were engaged in unauthorised activities/operations.
It further says that some of the DCs had handed over the said vehicles to additional deputy commissioners (ADCs) in violation of the instructions already issued, as well as Pera’s official policy. “Such practices are attracting unnecessary and unwarranted negative exposure of the authority and public misperception,” the letter adds.
The DG sought withdrawal of these vehicles from any unauthorised allocation and directed that these should be safely parked at their camp offices until the posting of regular SDEOs (sub-divisional enforcement officers) at the tehsil-level enforcement stations of Pera, which is expected by Dec this year. The DG stressed that the matter should be assigned “top priority”.
Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2026
