PM’s secretary allotted CDA chairman’s bungalow in violation of rules

ISLAMABAD: Secretary to Prime Minister Azam Khan was allotted a bungalow in a posh sector of Islamabad designated for the chairman of Capital Development Authority (CDA) in violation of rules, Pakistan Today has learnt.

Sources told this scribe that PM’s secretary chose the residence of CDA chief for his personal stay after being recently transferred to the new position. Azam Khan was earlier working as the additional secretary (in-charge) Ministry of States and Frontier Region.

He is a grade-21 officer and should have been allotted a house in category-1 which consists of two to three kanal residences, they added.

Ministry of Housing, with the help of state’s office and CDA, look after the government residence in the federal capital.

Officials in the housing ministry, on the condition of anonymity, said that the bungalow which was allotted to Azam Khan lies in the pool of the CDA, however, its allocation was controlled by the state’s office in this case.

Former CDA chairman Nadeen Hasan Asif was allotted the bungalow in 2013 during his tenure.

The residence is among as many as seven bungalows that are reserved for the high-ups of CDA in the capital’s posh sectors.

Sources privy to the development told Pakistan Today that Khan managed the allocation without the knowledge and approval of the civic body. On Friday, Azam Khan tried to take possession of the house, however, the civic body’s inquiry office declined to give him the ownership due to non-entitlement, they added.

According to the officials, the issue of government residence in the federal capital is in a horrible situation as the government servants, on most occasions, manage to succeed in the possession of a house of their choice after the passage of half service. When they take the ownership, they convert it into their children names by inducting them in any government department, they disclosed.

Sources told that the state’s office faces the same problems on a daily basis due to the scarcity of houses in the capital. The influential officials manage to get the possession of the houses in the first five years by hook or crook whereas other officials prefer to live in rented spaces.

Director PR Safdar Ali while talking to Pakistan Today said that the state’s office allotted the house to Azam Khan. He said, “This house was in the possession of Nadeem Hasan Asif, former Secretary Cabinet and incumbent member Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC).’

“We were communicated with state office to retrieve back the possession of this house, he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that ministry of housing and works had informed the upper house of parliament that it has alloted 3,218 houses under the rule 4(3) and rule 7 of the accommodation allocation rules since June 2013.

The report revealed that the officials who availed government accommodation include judges, secretaries, director generals, deputy secretary, officials of civil intelligence agency.

Pakistan Today tried to contact the joint secretary of housing ministry for comment, but no response was received till filing of this story.

With additional reporting by Shah Nawaz Mohal