AJK ministers live in MLA Hostel to save house rent

Over a dozen public office holders in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), including the Legislative Assembly speaker and deputy speaker, are availing themselves of subsidised or free accommodation in state owned hostels while claiming a handsome amount from state exchequer as house rent.

AJK cabinet members are entitled to an official residence in the state capital or a monthly rent of Rs 55,000 if they opt to live in a private house.

Similarly, the speaker and deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly can also avail an official residence or claim Rs 25,000 per month as rent for private residences.

 However, instead of residing in official or private residences, several ministers in addition to the speaker and deputy speaker reside in the Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) hostel whenever they are in the AJK capital.

Opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N has termed the practice unlawful  and unethical even though there is no specific law which declares this practice illegal.

The opposition maintains that ministers are part of the government and entitled to certain privileges which MLAs do not have.

Legislative Assembly speaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq, who is himself a beneficiary, has acknowledged this practice as “unethical.”

According to details, gathered by this scribe, of the 24 AJK ministers, only five – minister for local government Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin (senior minister), minister for college education Muhammad Matloob Inqalabi, minister for physical planning and housing Chaudhry Pervaiz Ashraf, minister for agriculture Sardar Akhtar Hussain Rabbani and minister for Azad Kashmir Loggin and Sawmills Corporation Faisal Mumtaz Rathore – have acquired official residences in the ministers’ colony here.

Minister for social welfare Farzana Ahmed, who is daughter of AJK President Sardar Yaqoob Khan, shares his father’s official residence whenever she visits Muzaffarabad to attend her office, while minister for health Sardar Qamaruz Zaman has turned a hostel-cum-guesthouse at Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) Muzaffarabad into his humble abode for the past two years, without any costs.

Three cabinet members – minister for finance Chaudhry Latif Akbar, minister for rehabilitation Abdul Majid Khan and minister for information Syed Bazil Ali Naqvi - live in their personal houses here while minister for works Chaudhry Muhammad Rasheed, minister for forests Sardar Javaid Ayub, minister for school education Mian Abdul Waheed and minister for revenue Chaudhry Ali Shan Soni have hired private houses, though at comparatively low rent.  

However, 10 cabinet members – minister for law Syed Azhar Hussain Gillani, minister for environment Shazia Khatoon, minister for sports Saleem Butt, minister for transport Tahir Khokhar, minister for tourism Abdul Salam Butt, minister for prisons Raja Wajid ur Rehman, minister for Zakat and Ushar Chaudhry Afsar Shahid, minister for food Javed Iqbal Budhanvi and ministers without portfolios Chaudhry Akbar Ibrahim and Muhammad Hussain Sargala - have neither opted for an official nor private house, and instead have been living in the MLA Hostel, while paying peanuts.

It may be relevant to mention here that daily rent of a single, double and family room in the MLA Hostel is Rs 175, Rs 200, and Rs 300, respectively, for sitting or former MLAs while others - officials and private guests - are charged Rs 800, Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 for the same rooms.

Sources said Mr Afsar Shahid, Mr Sargala, Ms Shazia Khatoon and deputy speaker Shaheen Kausar Dar had acquired family rooms on monthly basis, paying Rs 9000 per month, whereas the rest, including the Speaker, would hire a room during their presence in the capital against Rs 200 or 300 per night.

According to sources, since these AJK ministers spent very little time in Muzaffarabad, they preferred to live in the hostels instead of renting a house.

“Using the MLA hostel for accommodation suggests the cabinet members are spending little time at the seat of their government,” a source said.

Interestingly, in 2009, four prefabricated bungalows were built on the premises of Legislative Assembly as Speaker House, Deputy Speaker House, Leader of the Opposition House and LA Secretary House.

However, none of these bungalows were ever inhabited by their prospective allottees and instead they were also made part of the MLA Hostel.

Commenting on the ministers’ practice, opposition PML-N MLA Chaudhry Tariq Farooq said: “This is the height of an illegal as well as unethical practice. Since they are living in an official accommodation, the Accountant General’s Office should stop paying them house rent.”

Mr Farooq recalled that last year he had also drawn speaker’s attention towards this “devious practice” on the floor of the house but to no avail.

However, when contacted by this scribe, the speaker maintained that the ministers were “compelled to live in the MLA Hostel.”

“All of them have applied for official residences and we have also frequently written to the government to provide them the same. But that’s not happening due to unavailability of official houses,” he claimed.

However, when asked was it not unethical to pay just Rs 200-300 per night while claiming Rs 55000 per month, he said: “I agree it’s not ethical.”

Regarding his use of hostel, he said he planned to declare one of the four bungalows as “Speaker House” “but couldn’t do it because it would reduce the number of (currently 52) rooms in MLA Hostel.”

Even the LA secretary Chaudhry Basharat Hussain, a BPS-21 official, was also imitating the ministers by staying in MLA Hostel and paying Rs 200 per night for a family room, under the speaker’s approval.

The speaker however said he was thinking of reviewing that order....Tariq Naqash

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