For misusing authority : NAB arrests former revenue minister

Accused illegally transferred ownership of 1,976 kanals of land in DI Khan.


Our Correspondent August 03, 2015
Accused illegally transferred ownership of 1,976 kanals of land in DI Khan. PHOTO: FILE

PESHAWAR: National Accountability Bureau Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa arrested former revenue minister Syed Murid Kazim and other department officials on Monday for misusing authority and transferring ownership of land in the name of Naval Families Rehabilitation Organisation illegally.

Former revenue and estate district officer Qayyum Nawaz, who is presently posted as Lakki Marwat assistant commissioner, Riaz Muhammad and Provincial Board of Revenue Assistant Gul Hassan were amongst the detainees. The officials illegally transferred valuable 1,976 kanals of government land in DI Khan in the name of NFRO in 2010. They also illegally obtained  residential land in the same district. The voluntary return application of the accused was rejected by NAB chairman who ordered their arrest without delay.

Vantage point

In 2009, NFRO Bahawalpur filed a request stating the 1,976 kanals of land allotted to Pakistan Navy officials is not cultivable and it should be exchanged with cultivable land. As per rules, the decision on alternative land is to be made by the chief minister but Murid, being the revenue minister then, misused his authority and directed the K-P Board of Revenue to put up a note for the allotment of alternative land and illegally approved the transfer of its ownership to the organisation.

Meanwhile Riaz included valuable commercial and residential land in the proposal which was later allotted to officials of the revenue department. Murid got 50 kanals of land in the name of his close associate Syed Atta Hussain Shah. Similarly, Hassan obtained 33 kanals of land while Qayyum got four kanals and three marlas in DI Khan.

Ownership of land measuring 100 kanals, worth millions of rupees, has already been given up by the accused as voluntary return. The accused will be produced before the accountability court to obtain physical remand.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2015. 

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