LAHORE, Nov 30: The Punjab cabinet on Tuesday ratified a decision to grant an across-the-board property tax exemption to five-marla houses all over the province.

It also decided to prevent misuse of land along the highways, to strengthen network of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and to grant university charter to the King Edward Medical College, Lahore, and Beacon house National University.

The cabinet also reportedly decided not to give ownership rights of any highway in the province to the National Highway Authority. However, it agreed to give the NHA only the operational rights of the highways it wanted to operate.

The cabinet which met under Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, decided that the facility of the exemption from property tax to five-marla houses would now be extended all over the province.

The chief minister said the decision would benefit a large number of middle and lower middle class people. "I don't agree with the idea that the facility should not be given to the owners of houses in comparatively better localities," he said.

Taking strict notice of the misuse of land along the roads and highways, he directed the administration to evolve a foolproof strategy to discourage the trend. He ordered removal of encroachments on such land.

The chief minister said the government intended to make the PPSC more performance-oriented in order to ensure recruitment of competent and capable people on the administrative posts.

He said it had been decided to strengthen the role of the commission in recruitment of more posts. The PPSC chairman presented annual report of the commission and said it was not facing any political or official pressure in the performance of its responsibilities.

The cabinet approved proposed amendment to the Civil Service Act, 1974, to rectify the ambiguity in the fixation of dates regarding the promotion of government employees. The amendment bill would be tabled in the next assembly session for approval.

The chief minister directed the officials concerned to hold regular meetings of the promotion boards so as to timely give promotions to the government employees. The cabinet approved the university status for the KEMC and hoped that the decision would result in improving standard of medical education to the optimum level.

The chief minister also briefed the cabinet on his forthcoming visit to India. He said he was going there on the invitation of his Indian counterpart Amrinder Singh. He would not only attend the World Punjabi Conference there but also review the progress made in different sectors in the Indian Punjab.