Opposition in Punjab Assembly on Monday strongly criticised the provincial government for allowing a number of senior retired bureaucrats to illegally occupy palatial residences in GOR-I and luxury vehicles. The opposition benches bowled out the treasury benches after disclosing misuse of government vehicles by retired bureaucrats.
On a point of order, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Deputy Parliamentary Leader Shaukat Basra said that the bureaucrats are bleeding the provincial exchequer while politicians are criticised.
“The politicians are always blamed and heavily criticised for corruption but no one dares to question the misdoings of judges and generals,” he said adding that if the politicians questioned generals then they are labeled as traitors; face contempt of court notices for being critical of judges and the religious parties accused them of blasphemy.
He claimed that some high-ranking retired government officials, most of them from the police department, were still using government vehicles and the fuel was financed by the Punjab government and at the same time many also occupied government residences. He said that some senior retired civil officers were residing in GOR-I including, Safdar Javed at 10 Golf Road; Zia-ur-Rehman at 12 Danepur Lane; Hamayun Farshori in 11 Golf Road on paper possession; and former Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Sharif despite being retired for several years.
Similarly, he claimed that retired IGP Jehanzeb Barki illegally occupied two precious official vehicles Prado LEG-410 and Corolla LEG-09-265, Tariq Masood Khosa Corolla LEG-07-4217, Waseem Ahmed Additional LEG-07-4992, Arshad Saeed Corolla LRZ-3007 and Corolla LEG-07-1320 and Pervaiz Rathore LEG-09-2179. He requested Speaker Rana Iqbal to constitute a house committee to probe the matter and expose the faces of those people who were misusing the province’s precious resources. He also demanded for registration of police cases against them and recovery of the vehicles.
In response, parliamentarian secretary for law Tahir Khalil Sindu asked Basra to give a written detail of the facts and said that he would look in to the matter. “Right now, I am not in a position to respond on the issue,” he added. The speaker also sided with the treasury benches by refusing to constitute the committee on the pretext that it was ‘merely an allegation’; and that once it was proven he would constitute the committee to further probe the matter. Despite repeated requests from Basra, the Speaker remained adamant; however to appease the opposition benches he directed the parliamentarian secretary to update the house on the matter by the next day.
