Administrative officials advocates formation of PERA

Amjad Yousaf Zai
The various administrative officials especially working in town municipal administration in various towns have advocated establishment of the proposed Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (Pera) to deal with illegal occupation of state lands, movable and unmovable encroachments and to deal with hoarders and illegal profiteers. The proposed body will have the mandate to enforce three laws — The Colonisation of Government Lands (Punjab) Act, 1912; The Punjab Prevention of Hoarding Act, 2020; and The Punjab Price Control of Essential Commodities Act, 2024. This scribe interaction with several administrative officials especially assistant commissioners, town municipal officers (TMOs), tehsil officers, chief officers and price control magistrates (PCMs) reveals their helplessness to deals with everyday official assignments especially enforcement of special laws relating to price control, hoarding and land management. and dependency over the Police. “We wait like idle spectators for days to get police force assistance to tackle any illegal construction and till then the structure is completed and the accused get stay from local court of law”, said a Chief Officer. He said that if we have Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority officials which were established under the Punjab Enforcement and Regul­ation Act (Pera) 2024, who came under our official jurisdiction, we can act promptly and stop the nip at the bud. “Few weeks ago, I was officially informed by revenue field staff regarding illegal occupation over state land owned by a minority community. We lodged a report to the local police for lodging an FIR. However, to our disappointment, it took many days to lodge the FIR only because the illegal occupant belongs to some politically influential family”. Said an official of the revenue department. Rejecting the notion that creation of Pera will be a burden on the provincial kitty, an assistant commissioner said that this argument does not carry much weight. She was of the view that every new initiative has its own financial impact. While giving an example of computerization of land record, the Punjab government established Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA) and, ultimately, it benefited the public when reliance on the outdated patwar system was reduced. She added. A tehsil municipal officer (TMO) while advocating the necessity of the Authority has said that instead of burden, it would ease burden from the police as the police officials are busy in crime investigation, security and other official assignments. He rejected that this authority would work like other authority like tourist police and become the prompt force to coup with encroachers, land grabbers, hoarders and illegal profiteers. During interaction, a price control magistrate reveals his own ordeal. He disclosed that he waited for three long days to initiate a crackdown against violators of the official price list of fruits and vegetables but he was denied police assistance. As he had to meet the official assignment, he visited the market and during the crackdown, he was not only abused but also trashed by the respective shopkeepers which resulted in the first investigation report (FIR) against the suspects. He was of the view that if he was assisted by enforcement authority, he would not face public humiliation during performance of official assignment. Another price control magistrate was of the view that if the PCMs cannot enforce the notified prices, and artificial inflation goes unchecked and to ensure the implementation of official price list as well as government writ, we need manpower and the establishment of Regulatory Authority is solution of all problems, gridlocks, paucity and hiccups.