LAHORE - The Punjab Chief Minister’s dream to eliminiate Patwari culture in the province is yet to be materialized amid the accusations of fake recrutiments and bribery.

The age old British legacy of patwaris was replaced by newly launched Land Records Management System (LRMS) which was later made Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA). The LRMS was established at the cost of Rs 12 billion to collect data on lands.

All the farmers who had to face the brutalities of the revenue staff were given updated system by the Punjab government to deal with their land matters like mutation etc. But, the PLRA’s own report claims that several officials were recruited by ignoring the merit policy.

CM Shehbaz Sharif also took notice of the matter and directed the authorities to remove all those recruited without following the merit. After the arrest of those allegedly involved in the malpractice, the officer said, the present administration gave ample space to the employees illegally appointed into the authority to challenge it and get a stay order.

Interestingly, those who are blamed of appointing officials illegally are behind the bars while the employees are still working in the management.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had in December 2016 arrested officials including deputy director of the LRMS Director Maqbool Ahmad Dhawla.

Moreover, according to sources, the internal conflict also damaged the integrity of the land computerisation system. The Punjab government recruited Assistant Directors Land Records (ADLR) thought public service commission while on the other hand the authority recruited Service Centre In-charge (SCIs) of the same grade directly.

When contacted, an Establishment official said that the case is under probe and FIRs would be registered against the officials who got recruitments illegally. The ACE has been holding inquiry against 11 officials of the department.

After the issue of illegal appointments, the authority held a meeting and decided to conduct NTS of all the employees, according to official documents available with The Nation.

As per documents, the authority decided to test the eligibility of the newly recruited 477 Service Centre Officials (SCOs) who replaced the patwaris when the CM took notice. Results show the typing speed of the 17% of the officials was less than or equal to ten, 36% between 11 to 20, 27% between 21 to 30, 12% between 31 to 39 words per minute; only nine per cent candidates (38) out of the lot gained more than 40 words speed.

On this report, the authority had recommended that severe irregularities were exercised in the hiring process of the SCOs. Moreover, official documents reflect that the issue of the ADLR and Service Centre Incharge has also become severe. The ADLRs were hired through public service commission while the SCIs were recruited through specially constituted committees.

The LRMS former officer Dhawla had claimed in March 2016 that it took 8,000 patwaris to keep land records in the province. The job is now being done by 3,000 officials at service centres across the province.

Sadiq Tariq, a farmer from Bahawalpur, said that after the news came that the employees of the authority were not recruited on merit, the trust on new system was badly damaged. “The CM’s notice of the gravity of issue was a good step but the sluggishness of the administration not to lay them off on time affected its importance,” Tariq added.

PLRA Director General Capt (r) Zafar Iqbal was unavailable for comments despite repeated attempts.