ISLAMABAD – The Public Accounts Committee was informed on Wednesday that Karachi Port Trust (KPT) sold its precious land at the throwaway price of 10 paisa per square yard to the cooperative housing society in 1980s. The committee, which met here with Yasmeen Rehman in the chair to review audit reports of the ministry of ports and shipping, was informed by the audit authorities that KPT in 1980s sold 400 acres of its precious land in Karachi at the throwaway price of 10 paisa per square yard to cooperative housing society.
“The KPT officials and the administration of the said cooperative housing society also refused to provide list of allotees to the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP),” the audit officials told the committee. The audit officials told the committee that instead of providing list of allotees of plots, the administration of said cooperative housing society sent legal notice to AGP. The PAC special committee directed the KPT officials to present list of allotees of plots before the committee.
The special committee was also told that the two former chairmen of Port Qasim Authority Nawaz Tawana and Khalid Wasay during 1994-98 bought 29 plots of the Authority at the name of their close relatives at cheaper prices. The committee referred the matter to main Public Accounts Committee. The audit officials told the committee that FBR had to pay Rs 300 million to Karachi Port Trust as a rent for using KPT’s land. The high-ups of the ministry of ports and shipping told the committee that the ministry had so far written 83 letters to the FBR in this regard with no response of any kind from the other side.
Expressing concerns over the way the FBR was being run, the committee asked the ministry of finance to play role for settling the dispute between two public sector organizations. Earlier, DG Federal Audit Gulzar Hussain told the special committee III of the Public Accounts Committee that the government’s orders of not using air conditioners in public sector offices before 11 am were being violated. He further told the committee that illegal appointments were continued in government offices. “Around 700 to 800 persons were employed in Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) without adopting prescribed procedure.
A man with matriculation certificate has been appointed as an audit officer in PARC,” he said.
