Punjab PAC panel flags revenue losses and illegal plot allotments in Board of Revenue

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee-II has identified major revenue leakages and land-related irregularities in the Board of Revenue, highlighting losses linked to uncollected taxes, unpaid penalties and the unlawful allotment of government plots.

The issues surfaced during a meeting of the committee chaired by PAC-II Chairman Syed Ali Haider Gilani at the Punjab Assembly. Senior officials from the Punjab Assembly, audit, finance and revenue departments attended the session, where audit reports concerning the Board of Revenue were examined in detail.

Audit objections highlight tax and land management failures

According to the audit objections placed before the committee, the review pointed to broad weaknesses in tax recovery and land administration across Punjab. Among the matters raised was the failure to recover government fines from people who bought property through non-banking channels instead of documented financial routes.

Auditors also pointed to the non-collection of withholding tax on the sale and purchase of immovable property. The committee was told that this had caused significant losses to the national exchequer because withholding taxes due from property sellers during land transfers were either collected below the required level or not recovered at all.

The scrutiny further brought attention to irregularities in rural areas. These included the deliberate undervaluation of rural land, which led to lower mutation fee collection, as well as the unauthorised verification of land mutations without any fee being deposited.

Illegal allotment of 689 plots also raised

The audit review also flagged the illegal allotment of 689 residential plots under the Temporary Cultivation Scheme. The matter was among the key issues discussed as the committee reviewed what it described as serious shortcomings in land management and revenue collection.

Following the discussion, Chairman Syed Ali Haider Gilani directed the revenue department to speed up the remaining recovery process on a priority basis so that the lost public money could be recovered.

The committee concluded the meeting by issuing directives to the officials present, instructing them to take immediate administrative steps for the timely and strict implementation of the committee’s recommendations.

The proceedings focused on audit findings related to the Board of Revenue and underscored concerns over both tax enforcement and the handling of public land. The committee’s review covered uncollected withholding taxes, unpaid fines tied to undocumented property transactions, undercharged mutation fees in rural areas, fee-free mutation verifications and the allotment of hundreds of residential plots that auditors said had been made illegally.

The meeting brought together the relevant departments for what was described as a rigorous review of the audit record, with the committee pressing officials to move quickly on recoveries and corrective administrative action.