ISLAMABAD: The Estate Office has taken a step by canceling the allocation of a government house to Raziq Sanjrani, the brother of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.
According to sources, this move follows an ongoing legal controversy surrounding the allotment.
As per a notification from the Estate Office, the Category-I house in F-6/3 allocated to Raziq Sanjrani in his capacity as the managing director of Saindak Metals Limited, Balochistan, on December 11, 2019, has been canceled with immediate effect. He has been instructed to vacate the house within 14 days.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is set to resume contempt of court proceedings against Raziq Sanjrani on Tuesday related to the alleged illegal allotment of the residence to him.
Justice Babar Sattar of the IHC initiated these proceedings after Sanjrani failed to provide a satisfactory response to the court’s show-cause notice regarding the house’s allotment from the Estate Office’s pool, designated for civil servants exclusively.
The contempt proceedings stem from a petition filed by Sumaira Nazir Siddiqui, who challenged the arbitrary cancellation of her house allotment by the housing ministry.
Furthermore, the judge noted in the order sheet that the petition deals with illegal allotments made under the Accommodation Allocation Rules, 2002, as well as allocations and cancellations influenced by favoritism and nepotism.
The judge further highlighted that reports indicated that allotments had been made in disregard of the rules.
Notably, Mohammad Raziq Sanjrani had been allocated government accommodation in Category Type-I as the managing director of Saindak Metals Limited, Balochistan, under rule 12 of the Rules on December 11, 2019, and was entitled to retain such accommodation until March 4, 2046.
The housing secretary was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for Mr. Sanjrani’s entitlement to Category Type-I accommodation as a federal government servant under the rules.
Justice Sattar had impleaded Sanjrani as a party in the petition, leading to his objections, stating that he was not a respondent in the original petition against the allotment cancellation.
The judge pointed out that “the subject matter of the petition requires a comparison of like cases of allotment of government accommodation in Category Type-I.”
The cancellation of Sanjrani’s allotment comes amid heightened scrutiny of government accommodations and their allocation during the previous PML-N-led coalition government.
Justice Sattar had previously questioned the housing ministry for not providing government accommodations to three judges of the IHC, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding the independence of the judiciary.
Source: DAWN
