LAHORE, Feb 10: The federal government is learnt to have said a final no to Punjab on the issue of transfer of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) to the province. Now, the only option left for the PML-N government is to get the board through a reference in the Supreme Court.

Punjab is the only province, which is seeking possession of the board and some other subjects the federal government is still retaining despite, what the PML-N provincial government says, their transfer to federating units under the 18th Amendment.

“The federal government in a recent letter informed the provincial government that the Evacuee Trust Property Board has been assigned to the Human Rights Division, hence the chapter is closed,” official sources informed Dawn here on Friday.

Sources said the main reason for retaining the subject (and declaring the matter amicably resolved) was that it could not be transferred to the provinces because of an agreement with India that binds Islamabad to look after all pilgrims visiting their holy places in Pakistan.

The letter gave a new twist to the efforts by the Punjab government to obtain the Evacuee Trust Property Board, the Employees Old Age Benefit Institution (EOBI), the Workers Welfare Fund and Lahore’s Shaikh Zayed Hospital.

Besides trying various avenues to get their possession, the government on January 14 got approved the Evacuee Trust Properties Maintenance and Disposal (Amendment) Bill 2011 from the cabinet.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who presided over the meeting reportedly asked the chief secretary to sort out the matters relating to the transfer of these subjects. He reiterated his government’s stance that it would file reference in the Supreme Court if these issues were not amicably settled by the federal government of the PPP.

The law cleared by the cabinet was however not introduced in the assembly in its recently concluded session. And the labour department is also quietly preparing laws about the EOBI and the Workers Welfare Fund being retained by the federal government along with their billions of rupees assets.

The PML-N government had launched its protest with the prime minister soon after the federal government had placed these devolved subjects under the ministries it was allowed to retain after the 18th Amendment. The ministries of these subjects were nevertheless allowed to be devolved to provinces.

And after getting a cold shoulder response the Punjab government announced that it would file a reference in the Supreme Court.

Right now a team of legal experts is preparing the reference, but sources expressed their dismay at the speed of work by these experts.