ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis has ordered financial audit of Workers Welfare Fund (WWF), demanding a through accountability over housing allotments and stronger protection of labour welfare funds.
The committee also directed the government to expedite resolution of the long-pending constitutional and administrative status of the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF), sought complete documentation relating to devolution, and decided to summon the Secretary, Inter-Provincial Coordination Division, in its next meeting.
It also sought details of its assets, investments, expenditure and audit history, and directed that responsibility be fixed for the controversial allotment of houses without an approved policy.
The Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, chaired by Syed Rafiullah, met in the Constitution Room, Parliament House, to receive a comprehensive briefing from the Workers Welfare Fund on the Fund’s constitutional status, financial management, and investment portfolio and welfare initiatives for industrial workers.
It undertook an extensive review of the longstanding issue concerning the constitutional and administrative status of the Workers Welfare Fund following the Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment.
Officials informed the Committee that while all provinces except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had enacted the relevant legislation, the broader question of devolution remained unresolved and was awaiting further consideration through the appropriate constitutional mechanism.
The committee also undertook a detailed examination of the Fund’s financial management.
Members were informed that approximately Rs.350 billion collected under the WWF head presently remains with the Finance Division.
Expressing concern over the opportunity cost of idle public resources, the committee recommended that WWF funds be placed in interest-bearing accounts, ensuring that returns generated are utilised exclusively for the welfare of industrial workers.
Members also sought detailed information regarding the Fund’s investment policy, expenditure, income, banking arrangements, and overall financial governance.
The committee revisited the controversial Zone-V labour housing project, questioning the circumstances under which housing allotments had been announced in the absence of a duly approved policy framework.
Members stressed that public assets cannot be distributed outside established legal procedures, irrespective of administrative or political directives.
The committee directed that responsibility be fixed wherever irregularities had occurred and sought a comprehensive fact-finding report together with complete documentary details of the project.
It also reviewed matters relating to land acquired for the proposed medical university in Islamabad, where officials informed the Committee that the matter had previously been examined by investigative authorities and is presently under review by a newly constituted committee.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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