M.A. Jinnah and the Partition of Works, Mines & Power Assets

Sub title : Expert Committee Reports on Division of PWD, Electrical, and Petroleum Resources

Subject: Temporary structures | Electrical equipment | Petroleum resources | Division of assets in Works | Mines and Power Department

Date of publication: 1947

Language: English

Page: 83 p.

Source: National Archives of Pakistan

Serial no: 28051

Keyword: Partition of India 1947 -- Works Mines and Power Department -- Central Public Works Department (CPWD) | Temporary buildings -- Asset valuation -- Departmental charges -- Petroleum Division | Expert Committee No. II -- M.A. Jinnah (as head of Pakistan administration) | New Delhi Municipal Committee -- Delhi Electric Power Authority.

Abstract: Official reports and deliberations from Expert Committee No. II and its Works, Mines and Power Department Sub-Committee regarding the partition of assets and liabilities. Documents cover valuation disputes over temporary buildings in Delhi, treatment of departmental charges in CPWD accounts, allocation of assets transferred to self-governing bodies (e.g., New Delhi Municipal Committee), and handling of petroleum resources, sulphur mines, and mica disposal agreements. Includes notes of dissent between Muslim and non-Muslim members and steering committee remarks on unresolved issues.

Description: This collection comprises reports, memoranda, and notes from the partition proceedings related to the Works, Mines and Power Department of the Government of India. The documents reveal detailed technical and financial disagreements over how to value and divide physical assets—such as temporary war-time buildings in Delhi, CPWD infrastructure, electrical plant machinery, and natural resource operations (petroleum, sulphur, mica). Key debates include whether to use book value or depreciated value for assets, the treatment of administrative overheads in asset costs, and the status of resources transferred to nominally independent municipal bodies. These records are critical for understanding the material and administrative foundations of the nascent Pakistani state under M.A. Jinnah's leadership, highlighting the practical challenges of untangling a unified colonial infrastructure. SCANNED BY: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF PAKISTAN.

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