Following the directions of Ombudsman Punjab Maj. (r) Azam Suleman Khan, the Rent Branch of the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) have issued final rent clearance certificates for the year 2021 to 908 employees who have used government residences.
Letters have also been sent to the government employees residing in government residences to clear their rents so that they do not face any delay in getting their pensions on reaching the age of superannuation.
In a statement issued here on Monday, a spokesman for the provincial ombudsman’s office said that Dr Muhammad Ibrahim, an associate professor at Government College University Lahore, complained to the ombudsman’s office that he has not been issued a rent clearance certificate for around eight long months, and due to it, his pension case has been delayed.
Due to effective follow up of this case by the ombudsman’s office, the S&GAD’s rent controller issued a rent clearance certificate to the applicant to process the pension case.
Taking notice of receipt of Rs.1, 580,489, instead of Rs.1, 493,895 as the rent of government residence, the ombudsman office has also directed the Treasurer of Government College University Lahore to reimburse the excess amount of Rs.86,594 to the plaintiff within 30 days.
The spokesman explained that timely issuance of rent certificates is the basic condition for obtaining pensions. Delay in the issuance of rent certificates become a major obstacle in obtaining pensions which put mental and financial pressures on government employees.
Recognizing the plight of government employees due to delay in obtaining rent clearance certificates, Ombudsman Maj (r) Azam Suleman Khan has further directed that S&GAD (Welfare Wing) should devise an organized system by which the relevant record would be continuously updated and government employees do not have to re-submit their record after retirement, concluded the spokesman.
