ISLAMABAD, Aug 19: The chairman of Capital Development Authority, Mir Laiq Shah, has ordered an inquiry into the removal of precious items by the former parliamentarians from Parliament Lodges during their stay in 1999.

A source told Dawn on Monday that the inquiry was ordered to punish those CDA officials whose negligence led to the lifting of items.

The director of parliament lodges, Suleman Sahito, will hold the inquiry and submit its report to the CDA chairman within 15 days.

According to the CDA, items worth Rs75,000 had been lif-ted by the former parliamentarians.

“During the inquiry, the responsible officials of the CDA would be investigated,” the source said and added that the ex- parliamentarians who had taken the items with them would be asked to bear the loss.

“In case, the former parliamentarians do not pay the cost of missing items, the Election Commission of Pakistan would be requested to disqualify them from participating in the forthcoming general elections,” a CDA official said.

He said letters had been sent to the defaulters to inform them about the action to be taken against them if they did not retire their dues.

He said the senior special judge of the authority, Arshad Mehmood Chaudhry, has issued notices against 41 former parliamentarians for non-payment of their dues and taking a number of precious items from the lodges while leaving.

The total amount which has to be recovered from 41 ex- parliamentarians is stated to be Rs1.175 million.