Punjab govt ratifies army land allotment to civilian officials.

Byline: Nasir Jamal

LAHORE -- The Punjab government has ratified the allotment of up to 25 acres of state land, which was meant for the families of the martyred soldiers and war veterans under the Army Welfare Scheme (AWS), to 47 civilian government officials.

The allotments had been made without legal sanction on the orders of former dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf in contravention of the merit and law, two persons in CM Secretariat confirmed on condition of anonymity.

According to the sources in the Punjab CM Secretariat, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had cancelled the allotment, which had been ordered by the former military dictator during January 2004 and May 2008 in alleged violation of the Colonisation of Government Land (Punjab) Act 1912 and the allotment policy framed in 1962 under it for the AWS.

After the cancellation order, the PML-N government also rejected multiple summaries put up to former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif for ratification. The land branch of GHQ had first approached the Punjab government in April 2009 to not revoke the allotments. The military was of the opinion that the 'allotments made to the civil officials may be treated as closed chapter' and offered to work out allotment modalities for future in consultation with the provincial government and the provincial Board of Revenue. However, Mr Sharif did not oblige.

Beneficiaries include federal cabinet division secretary, PSO to CM Buzdar

The sources in CM Secretariat said around 837 acres of the AWS land had been allotted to civilian officials without consulting the provincial government. The land had been allotted in districts of Bahawalpur, Pakpattan, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan and Sadiqabad.

The former CM rejected another summary prepared by the Board of Revenue in February 2012, as the then Punjab chief secretary noted that it didn't augur well for the civil service and the overall good governance.

According to the fresh summary approved by the Usman Buzdar government to restore and validate the allotments, the Sharif government had cancelled the allotments and retrieved the allotted land from the beneficiary officials in 2010, because the land was actually allotted to the military for a specific purpose under the law.

Those who had sold the land allotted to them were told by the Sharif administration to deposit the sale proceeds to the provincial treasury. The provincial officials who had benefited...