KARACHI: The Sindh government in compliance of the order the Supreme Court (SC) has retrieved 149 luxury vehicles from the former cabinet members and government officers and parked in the government transport pool for utilising them as per uniform policy framed by the federal government.
This was disclosed in the farewell caretaker cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Sindh Caretaker Chief Minister (CM) Fazal-ur-Rehman on Monday here at the CM House.
The meeting was attended by all the cabinet members, Chief Secretary Major (retd) Azam Suleman, Sindh IGP Amjad Javed Saleemi, Planning and Development Chairman Mohammad Waseem, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, provincial secretaries and others concerned officers.
The agenda of the meeting was to discuss Suo Moto case No.11/2018 regarding utilisation of luxury vehicles by the ministers and the officers beyond their entitlement.
The cabinet was informed that in pursuance of the SC, the federal government in consultation with the provincial governments has evolved Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs) for utilisation and disposal of luxury vehicles retrieved by the ministers and senior officers.
According to the SOPs, 10-year old luxury vehicles requiring major repair and/or maintenance may be disposed-off through open auction after completing legal formalities, non-custom paid luxury vehicles irrespective of their model, make and type be handed over to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for allocation to ministries, divisions or institutions as per FBR existing rules and if required disposal of the leftover vehicles be arranged through open auction as FBR policy.
Further, luxury vehicles retrieved by the federal government are to be included in the central pool of the cabinet for protocol duties of state guests or visiting foreign delegates, Senate chairman, speakers of National Assembly, Chief Justice(s) of High Courts and Supreme Court, governors and chief ministers during their visit to Islamabad.
Vehicles confiscated by the provincial governments may be allocated with the approval of the provincial cabinet or disposed-off through an auction in line with procedure/mechanism formulated by the respective provincial governments.
The luxury vehicles retrieved by the federal or provincial government are to be utilised by the federal respective provincial government with the approval of the federal or provincial cabinet.
Chief secretary with the approval of the caretaker chief minister proposed that all the retrieved luxury vehicles may be placed at the disposal of the respective Protocol Wing of CM or Governor Secretariat for protocol purposes of dignitaries.
It was also proposed that all retrieved luxury vehicles of district administration may be placed at the disposal of the commissioners and deputy commissioners for protocol purposes and for usage on geographical or terrain considerations.
The cabinet approved all the proposals and requested the chief secretary to submit the same in the SC on August 6.
