Minorities Division told to deposit evacuee assets

By Zulfiqar Ghuman

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly (NA) on Saturday directed the secretary of the minorities affairs division to deposit the evacuee property in the federal treasury without further delay.

The committee resented the casual bureaucratic attitude for not depositing the property — gold weighing seven maunds, one ser and 40 tolas and silver weighing 43 maunds, 30 sers and 63 tolas and Rs 3,698,399 in cash — lying with the treasury offices and PLA Accounts in Islamabad and with the Punjab and Balochistan governments since 1947.7.

The meeting was held at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Malik Allah Yar Khan to discuss the Minorities Affairs Division 2001-2002.

The evacuee property was supposed to be deposited in the federal treasury, whereas the Minorities Affairs Division had not complied with the directions. The PAC also criticised the role of officials responsible for the delay as they had failed in discharging their duties after the lapse of 57 years.

Besides immediate directions to deposit the property, the PAC also ordered the audit department to physically verify the gold and silver ornaments fearing that articles might have been misappropriated during such a long period.

The PAC observed that the division should strengthen its internal financial controls and strictly monitor the utilisation of its budgetary allocations and demand supplementary grants after thoroughly scrutinising its budget.

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