ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet has directed the Cabinet Division to complete winding up/liquidation of Abandoned Properties Organization (APO), official sources told Business Recorder.
The APO is a statutory body of the Federal Government, established under the Abandoned Properties (Management) Act, 1975, under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division.
The APO had been declared custodian of moveable and immoveable properties of "specified person," which means a citizen of Pakistan domiciled in the territories which immediately before the sixteenth day of December 1971 constituted the province of East Pakistan, who had left or has expressed his desire to be taken out of or to be allowed to leave, the territories of Pakistan.
The Cabinet, in its meeting held on November 26, 2019 decided to approve winding up/liquidation of the APO. Earlier, the Prime Minister's Inspection Commission (PMIC) had conducted an inspection of the organization and submitted its report along with recommendations to the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister had desired that the Cabinet Division should take further action on the recommendations of the PMIC, in consultation with all the stakeholders, fulfilling all the codal formalities. Certain amendments had been made in the Abandoned Properties (Management) Act, 1975 through the Finance Act, 2019, as a result of which a total amount of Rs 13.199 billion had been deposited in the Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF). As per the decision of the Federal Cabinet, and on the recommendations of the Prime Minister's Inspection Commission (PMIC), winding up/liquidation of APO was under process.
According to sources, matter of winding up of APO raised in the National Assembly through Calling Attention Notice No.46.
The Standing Committee on the Cabinet Secretariat discussed the matter on August 11, 2020 and recommended: (i) the Committee decided to invite Shafqat Mehmood, Minister for Education and Professional Training/Convener Dr. Ishrat Hussain, to discuss the Committee on Implementation of Reforms and Chairman Structural Reforms Committee to closure/winding-up of the Abandoned Properties Organization; (ii) The Cabinet Division to provide details of the performance of the APO especially the details of sale of the properties, under litigation cases regarding these properties, funds utilization in this regard and APO properties encroached and non-retrievable and; (iii) the Cabinet Division not to proceed with sale of APO properties till the matter was under discussion of the Standing Committee.
On November 12, 2020, the Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms stated that recommendations of the National Assembly Standing Committee could affect the winding up process of APO and requested necessary guidance for IRC which advised the Cabinet Division to place the matter for consideration and decision by CCIR. Accordingly, the case was submitted for information and guidance of CCIR.
The Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms (CCIR) considered the summary submitted by the Cabinet Division and directed the Cabinet Division to complete winding up/liquidation of APO as already decided by the Federal Cabinet.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020