LAHORE, Aug 8: The Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment has again sought autonomy from the government to strengthen itself. Officials told Dawn on Monday that a draft proposal had been sent to the chief secretary for submission to the chief minister for approval.

They said the ACE wanted both administrative and financial autonomy, besides banning the union. It also wanted to empower its head regarding the selection and dismissal of the employees and the posting of up to BS-18 officials.

They said that after becoming autonomous, the ACE head would have the powers of an administrative secretary and he would be answerable only to the chief minister.

They were of the view that the ACE’s efficiency could not improve unless it was given complete autonomy as it had to face political pressure, especially while dealing with revenue cases.

At present, the ACE is an attached department to the S&GAD and its head has to take prior permission before initiating an inquiry against a BS-19 officer.

The officials said the National Accountability Bureau had already suggested in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) to give maximum powers to the provincial anti-corruption establishments to combat corruption.

The NACS observed: “The anti-corruption agencies in Pakistan traditionally have not been equipped to combat corruption comprehensively. The objective of the strategy is to establish a strong anti-corruption institutional and legal framework, which provides for a deterrent mechanism across the board. The mechanism would facilitate enforcement of the law fairly, transparently and critically with integrity and accountability.”

It may, however, be mentioned that the ACE had sought autonomy in 2003, but the chief minister had refused, asking it to first improve its working.

The ACE conviction rate is less than eight per cent owing to various reasons like the quality of investigation, as most of the ACE investigators inducted from police are not acquainted with the white-collar crime. The prosecutors are also not professionally sound, most of the cases are based on verbal evidence and the complainants often compromise with the accused during the case proceeding.

The ACE receives about 300 applications daily with a maximum number against the police and the revenue departments. It has six regions in the province.

The Lahore division office covers Kasur, Okara and Shiekhupura, the Rawalpindi division handles the cases from Jehlum, Attock, Chakwal, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujrat, the Faisalabad division covers Khushab, Mianwali and Toba Tek Singh, the Bahawalpur division covers Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran, the Sargodha division deals with the case of Khushab, Mianwali and Bhakkar and the Multan division covers eight districts including DG Khan.