DERA GHAZI KHAN May 23: A two-member disposal committee on pension cases held a meeting with departments concerned of four districts of former Dera Ghazi Khan division to get a report about pending cases of pension and GP fund.

Dozens of pension cases are pending with various departments due to red-tapism, lack of coordination between accounts branch and departments.

At least 25 representatives of department respondents attended the meeting at a committee room of the local DCO office. However, the DCO did not attend the meeting.

The disposal committee checked the records of respondents and asked the departments concerned to complete the record immediately and report regularly about the cases to the Punjab governor.

Most inquiries were related to the Food Department because some pending cases were pertaining to those retired employees who had been involved in corruption cases, and now they are reluctant to finalize their cases.

A majority of respondent departments were ill prepared to present their pending cases.

The pending pension cases of the Education Department were victim of lack of coordination between the districts. Their record could not be shifted to district concerned where district to district postings happened.

Even the service books of employees of various departments are incomplete due to transfer and retirement of officers who were authorized to comment on.

The government gives top priority to the timely sanction of pension to its retiring employees. As per rules, a pensioner is expected to get his payment order on the day of his retirement or at the latest by the end of the third month, while the committee was discussing cases pending since 1993.

District account officers were not present at the meeting despite instructions from the Punjab chief secretary.

Case REGISTERED Civil Lines police on Thursday claimed to have registered a case against health EDO’s son who provided spurious drugs to the local health department.

Reports said EDO (health) Qasim Qureshi’s son Aizaz Qureshi supplied drugs to the health department through his medicine agency in May 2001.

On July 30, samples were sent to Lahore for test. The test revealed all the drugs were spurious.