The housing secretary has three months to prepare a report about the number of civil servants who were assigned to provincial tasks but still maintain two official residences in the federal capital, according to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) order on Friday.
Significantly, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani ordered Inspector General (IG) Akbar Nasir Khan of Islamabad to maintain just one house in the capital.
“Keep the G-8 residence or the IG house. Handover control of new residence to section officer in 24 hours,” the court said while hearing a plea from an interior ministry section officer who was forcibly evicted from his house.
“How many civil servants maintain two residences? In three months, the secretary of housing should prepare a report,” said Justice Kayani.
The federal capital’s government houses and quarters that have been subject to adverse occupation were already scheduled for removal by the Ministry of Housing and Works.
Retired public servants and their kin are illicitly occupying houses and quarters. They have also expanded government houses without the permission of the relevant authorities.
According to Estate Office sources, a plan was being planned to have the government residences removed from unlawful residents, including retired employees and their families, at the direction of Minister for Housing and Works Maulana Abdul Wasay.
The sources said that since government employees have been on a waiting list for several years, all-out efforts will be made to fulfil their lodging needs.
