Allotment of 4,000-plus govt plots cancelled by former housing director
All plots in sectors announced in last six years were priced at Rs10m and above.
The former director-general of the Punjab Housing Department has cancelled the allotment of thousands of government plots by adopting illegal procedures and ignoring the policy approved by the Punjab chief minister and the provincial minister for housing.
According to sources, contrary to the government’s policy and without informing the Minister and Secretary Housing, Punjab Housing department’s former director-general Mansoor Sarwar issued verbal instructions to the directors of the housing department, asking them to cancel the allotment of more than 4,000 non-commercial buildings, mostly located in South Punjab, where commercial activities were taking place. He also ordered that affected plot owners should approach the concerned Deputy Commissioner’s Office for the resumption of allotment.
All the plots in question were allotted 30 to 40 years ago, and under the Punjab government’s policy, they were declared commercial properties under a scheme. According to government estimates, the scheme was to generate a lot of revenue through commercialisaiton fees which was to be spent on various public projects.
However, the former DG’s illegal move not only caused financial and political damage to the government but also left thousands of families, who invested their money in the plots, in dire straits.
On the direction of the chief minister, the provincial minister for housing has constituted a three-member inquiry committee to probe the matter. The committee will submit its report in three weeks.
Sources said that upon the completion of the inquiry, the responsible officers will be suspended, and action will be taken against them.
Earlier, the government had surveyed various housing schemes in Punjab, especially in the districts of South Punjab. The purpose was to indicate which government scheme is carrying out commercial activities in non-commercial buildings and roads.
Following the completion of the survey, the committee, formed by the chief minister and the Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency Board, decided to introduce a scheme for the owners of non-commercial buildings. Under the scheme, owners could carry out commercial activities by commercialising their buildings upon paying the appropriate commercialisation fee set by the government during the period.
When contacted, the Punjab Minister for Housing Mian Mahmood ur Rasheed said the government had not formulated any policy to cancel the allotment and had not issued any such orders but the former DG Housing had taken an illegal decision, entirely on his own.
“The housing department directors were given verbal instructions instead of written ones and no formal notice was issued to the owners before the directors cancelled the allotment as per the rules and regulations,” he said. “When I called these directors in Lahore and questioned them, they said that the DG Housing had verbally instructed them to cancel these allotments with immediate effect.”
He said that the former DG’s illegal move has not only caused severe distress and financial hardship to thousands of families but has also damaged the government’s commercialisation plan.
“After consultation with the Chief Minister, I have constituted a committee headed by Special Secretary Housing Muhammad Shafiq to look into the matter. The committee includes a senior director and a member of the board, Ayaz Sarfraz Malik.
“Once the inquiry report is ready, we will carefully review it and take strict action against the officers concerned.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2020.