Even official files aren’t cleared without bribe

Punjab Information Commission not being paid rent for building

ISLAMABAD: Corruption is so rampant in the government departments that even official files fail to get clearance unless the money changes hands. If there is still any doubt about this pervasive menace, a letter from a government department serves as a damning indictment of this corrupt system.

It has been written by the Punjab Information Commission (PIC) to the Accountant General Punjab (AGP). The PIC is facing inordinate delays in the release of funds needed to pay the rent of the building.

How a file is cleared has succinctly been summarised by Justice (retd) Mazhar Hussain Minhas, Chief Information Commissioner of the PIC, in a letter to the AGP.  “It has been frequently brought to our knowledge that it is impossible to have a bill passed from the AGP office without greasing the palms of relevant staff or seeking intervention of personal contacts among the senior officers.”

This is the story of the Punjab — a province ranked the most corrupt in a countrywide survey carried out by the Fair and Free Election Network (Fafen) last year. The PIC that promotes transparency by taking up appeals against the government departments denying the public right to know, has also been flooded with applications wherein citizens complained about the refusal of record for not paying the bribe. 

“One third of the applications we receive complain about corruption,” a PIC official told The News. Now the PIC itself has become a complainant. Initially, it was refused an office space. Shortage of staff still persists as it is working with three-member support staff against the sanctioned strength of 43. Daily wagers were last paid six months ago.

The landlord has threatened the PIC with putting it on notice to vacate the premises on account of non-payment.    Although the PIC is the first to go public on the issues of inter-departmental corruption, many government agencies have compromised with the system instead of protesting against the corrupt practices as they themselves are not clean.

The Chief Information Commissioner’s letter to the AGP reveals how difficult it is to get a file cleared from the government without, in the words of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain, “installing the wheels to the file.”

The letter he dispatched on December 30, 2016 starts with a protesting line about the frivolous and mala fide objections by the AGP staff on the bills sent by the PIC in relation to various payments they need to get for performing the official functions.

One such example, the letter explains, is that of a bill regarding payment of office rent which has been repeatedly submitted over the last six months but each time it was returned with new vague objections.

The letter further reads: “We are at a complete loss to understand this kind of bad practice which is either not in the knowledge of the high-ups in the AGP office or it is being ignored deliberately. It has been frequently brought to our knowledge that it is impossible to have a bill passed from the AGP office without greasing the palms of relevant staff or seeking intervention of personal contacts among the senior officers. Non-approval of our bill is one of such cases where the owner has refused to personally follow up therefore concerned staff comes up with a new vague objection on the same bill, even when it has been submitted after meeting the earlier objections.”

As a result, the letter goes on, of the above-mentioned vague, frivolous and unending new objections by the concerned staff of your office, the PIC has not been able to pay rent to the office owner for the last six months and the owner is no fed up to the extent that he has been threatening to serve a notice for vacating the premises.

“Here, we would also like to highlight that we had acquired this office premises after hectic efforts spanning over months as nobody is willing to rent a building to a government organization in view of the agonizing experiences of people,” the letter reads.

The letter concludes requesting the AGP to issue appropriate directions for immediate approval of the bill as well as “to curb the dubious practices that cause long delays in approval of bills and distress for public servants and others who deal with the government and AGP office.”