ISLAMABAD: More than 3,000 government houses under the Estate Office in Karachi have been illegally occupied, a sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee was informed on Thursday.
The PAC subcommittee, headed by Convener Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, reviewed various audit objections relating to the Ministry of Housing and Works from 2000-01 to 2019-20. During the meeting, audit officials said that 925 houses had so far been vacated, while the Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) had directed the authorities to recover dues from the occupants.
Tariq Fazal Chaudhry observed that the audit para regarding illegal occupation had been pending for more than 20 years. The housing secretary said the issue had persisted for around 40 years and had now become a political matter. He said some occupants claimed ownership of the government houses and possessed both valid and invalid documents. The secretary suggested the government should approach an appropriate forum to consider regularising or handing over the properties to occupants.
He said whenever authorities attempted to get the houses vacated, the occupants took to the streets, while their elected representatives also supported them. Tariq Fazal opposed the idea of handing over government houses to occupants, saying it could set a precedent and make it difficult for the government to prevent similar occupations. “There are already many examples in Punjab,” the housing secretary responded.
The committee was also informed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was conducting an inquiry into the matter. Tariq Fazal said there were also encroachments on government land in Islamabad, but nobody claimed that such land should be allotted to them.
The committee referred the audit objection to the main PAC and directed NAB officials to present details of the case before the main committee, including details of recoveries made by the bureau. “Today, for the first time, NAB is working more in the field than in the media,” Tariq Fazal remarked.
Meanwhile, the PAC sub-committee also examined the issue of recovery of around Rs50 million from 87 Islamabad Police employees. Audit officials told the committee that no recovery had been made.
Tariq Fazal also expressed concern over the performance of Pakistan Infrastructure Development Company Limited (PIDCL), saying, “I think PIDCL exists only on paper.” He remarked that the company was effectively non-functional, while officials maintained that its performance had improved and that it was now delivering.
