KARACHI, Nov 16: Senior Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed has said that he will write to the chief minister about the mounting corruption cases pending decisions, and will suggest setting up of a special committee to dispose them of within two to three months to help control corruption.

He was responding to the supplementary questions asked by members while replying to a query by Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar during the question hour in the Sindh Assembly on Thursday.

Jam Mehtab had sought department-wise details of the cases registered between Jan 1, 2003 and June 30, 2004 against the officers of grade-16 and above for their alleged involvement in corruption.

Sardar Ahmed read out the answers and responded to supplementary questions on behalf of Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who also holds the portfolio of Services & General Administration and Coordination.

The minister said that cases were in a large number and due to the shortage of the required staff, the relevant record was not being produced. Therefore, he maintained, many cases were pending decisions.

He informed the house that the Anti-corruption Establishment had booked 194 officers accused of corruption.

In some cases, he said, inquiries had been completed and in some other cases, the process was continuing. He said in some cases, the accused officers had been sacked or forced to retire.

In reply to a question asked by leader of the opposition in the assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, the chief minister provided details regarding composition and functioning of the CM’s Inspection Team and the expenditure incurred on the activities of its chairman and members during the period July 1, 2004 to Feb 28, 2005.

Replying to supplementary questions, Sardar Ahmed said that 64 cases of officers were pending and in none of these cases, a final inquiry report had been received.

He pointed out that there was no time frame for submission of the inquiry reports but an inquiry officer was supposed to submit his report within two-three months. He said he would suggest to the chief minister to fix a time frame for the speedy disposal of cases.

In response to Mr Khuhro’s another question, the chief minister provided details of bungalows, apartments and flats available with the government of Sindh in Karachi as of Aug 15, 2005.—APP