The Supreme Court will take up on Thursday some important issues pertaining to irregularities and corruption in various government departments including the Capital Development Authority (CDA).
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will hear a suo motu case regarding illegal allotment of 4,000 plots by the CDA, causing a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.
The action was taken on a complaint filed by a few employees of the CDA, who alleged that 4,000 plots have been allotted in violation of the relevant rules of the authority. In the process around 20 per cent of the allocations was reserved for the employees of the CDA without following the prescribed procedure. Besides, precious chunks of land were allotted to a few “deputationists” of CDA who belonged to other departments and at the moment are not even serving in the authority.
Moreover, the relevant provisions as enumerated in Capital Development Authority Lands Regulations 1993 and 2005 were also violated flagrantly, according to the employees. The case was heard on May 16 and adjourned for 14 days on request of CDA’s lawyer Chaudhry Muhammad Ramzan.
The authority “illegally” allotted a number of plots, agriculture farms, shops and sites for restaurants to selected persons, some even in the National Park Area, where construction is strictly banned, costing CDA billions of rupees in losses. As the investigation unfolds the break up of these plots and the irregularities become clearer.
Furthermore, the Directorate of Land and Rehabilitation allotted 19 residential plots and built-up property in different sectors to “ghost-owners”.
According to an official, some of the allottees succeeded in getting double benefit as they did not even deposit the cost of the plot but payment was shown in the official records.
This has also been revealed in the annual audit report for the year of 2010-11. It was learnt that instead of taking action against the fictitious allottees and officials of the authority involved, the allotment of plots was regularised by CDA.
An official also claimed that Director Municipal Administration, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, illegally rented out various art and craft places, shops, restaurants and plots to selected individuals for a period of 10 years. Of this, some allotments were made on verbal orders. The allotment terms were extended for five years to selected persons without any advertisements in print media or open competitive bidding, in violation of the Public Procurement Rules 2004.
Hearing of another suo motu case regarding irregularities in purchase of land, which was appealed by Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF), will be conducted before the court today.
This case was also heard on May 16 by a two-member bench headed by the chief justice wherein the counsel for FGEHF was directed to file the complete documents indicating the manner in which the land was purchased, namely, whether by initiating process of acquisition under Islamabad Land Acquisition Act as well as under the CDA Act.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2011.
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