There are about 234 beneficiaries of this policy, and most of them have either sold the land at market rates that are considerably higher than allotment rates or would sell them as has been the norm. The previous policy of one residential plot of land being allotted upon retirement to an official has been badly mauled over time with inclusion of commercial plot and farmland.
From an economic perspective granting state owned land at well below the market rate to select senior civil and military officials is not considered kosher for the simple reason that the rest of the world honours excellence in civil and military cadres through promotion and/or a civil/military award. Thus anyone who has reached grade 22 or indeed the position of a general staff officer is considered to already have been honoured by the state and the people of the country. Ideally of course the government must revisit the reports on the proposed civil service reforms which unanimously recommended a lean and competent bureaucracy, with a salary structure comparable to the private sector, and withdrawal of all perks including housing and electricity allowance.
However, in Pakistan, pay scales are rather low and real estate value so high that it is almost impossible for an honest senior civil or military official to afford to purchase a piece of land, leave alone build a house on it. In this context the economic rationale behind allotting land to senior officials is provided. The allotment, so argue economists, is to enable the retiree to use his/her gratuity and or commuted pension for purchase of land that he can then build his residence on. Allotting one piece of land whose measurement must be commensurate with the retiree's designation can therefore be supported. However, granting two plots to senior civilian and military officials cannot be, the PAC argued, for the simple reason that this policy has led to the allottee selling off the allotted land and raking in windfall profits that merely increase the price of real estate in the country making it out of the reach of the common man.
In Pakistan, policies and recommendations are rarely flawed and the problem is one of implementation. Gondal assured the PAC members that he had talked with Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf who had assured him that the government would follow the PAC prescriptions. Unfortunately, however, with general elections just around the corner it seems that Prime Minister Ashraf may not be able to deliver on this assurance anytime soon. However, one would hope that parliament does at least pass a unanimous resolution on the recommendations so that the next government would be bound to follow these valuable PAC prescriptions.