LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Chief Justice on Wednesday sought an explanation from Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar about prolonged and repeated postings of officials on deputation in the Lahore Development Authority (LDA).

Earlier a law officer appeared in petitions against illegal societies informed the Chief justice Muhammad Qasim Khan that the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had collected the complete data of the societies constructed on green land areas to take action against them.

The CJ therefore sought a progress report from the ACE at the next hearing on February 23.

The law officer when told the Chief Justice that the chief minister happened to be the chairman of the LDA, he sought a written explanation f

rom him about the officials. The CJ also sought a similar explanation from the vice chairman of the LDA.

The CJ observed that a decision whether to summon the chief minister in person would be taken after going through the explanation.

The Chief Justice, after going through the record of the officials on deputation, wondered that at least three land acquisition collectors had been working in the LDA on deputation for decades.

Asked about the period of the posting on deputation, an officer of the LDA told the CJ that an official could be appointed on deputation for a period of three years.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Khan also regretted that every citizen paid direct and indirect taxes to the government for his whole life and the government could not provide him a free piece of land for his grave after death.

The CJ asked a provincial law officer that ongoing work on the development projects in Mianwali and Dera Ghazi Khan, the native districts of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Buzdar respectively, could be stopped if the government was short of money and land.

The law officer said the government would soon satisfy the concerns of the court in this matter.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021