Illegal auction of land in Jamshoro district unearthed

Murky business of suspicious and unlawful allotments remains off the radar of accountability watchdogs

HYDRABAD:

A former director general of the Sehwan Development Authority (SDA) has come under scrutiny for allegedly auctioning a substantial amenity plot in Jamshoro district without obtaining approval from the SDA's governing body and without considering the applicant's qualifications.

The ex-DG of SDA had auctioned a huge amenity plot in Jamshoro district to an individual without obtaining approval from the SDA governing body and without considering the applicant's qualification.

This disclosure about unlawfully auctioning a 5,324 square yards plot on a main road was made in a statement submitted by an SDA's officer in a subordinate court in Jamshoro on Monday.

The SDA is the development wing of Jamshoro like Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA). Its jurisdiction stretches from Sehwan to Lucky Cement Factory on M9 Motorway near Karachi. Many housing schemes which are being marketed as Karachi based fall in its domain.

"The auction in question was conducted between January 24 and 26, 2021, to dispose of commercial and residential plots in SDA's Gulshan-e-Shahbaz Housing Scheme," stated SDA Assistant Director Auction Muzaffar Ali Kharal, representing the incumbent SDA DG, Deputy Director Land Management, and Director of Planning and Development Control (P&DC).

"Admittedly the auction was held between January 24 to 26 in 2021 ... [but] to dispose of commercial and residential plots of SDA [in Gulshan-e-Shahbaz Housing Scheme]," reads the statement submitted by Kharal.

A senior officer of the SDA, who requested anonymity, told The Express Tribune that the former DG Munir Soomro had put to auction six amenity plots in January, 2021, without the governing body's approval.

Meanwhile, a federal government employee, Ship Repair Division Deputy General Manager Mumtaz Ali Soomro, the claimant of the plot in question, filed a petition in court in December 2022, asserting that he acquired the plot through a successful bid and paid Rs2 million to the authority on February 1, 2021.

However, he also claimed that the SDA never issued him a payment receipt for the plot. After submitting three applications between March and June 2021 to ex-DG Soomro and failing to obtain the receipt, he made an additional payment of Rs1.43 million on August 2, 2021.

According to the statement submitted by Kharal in the court, Mumtaz made payments through pay orders without the consent of the SDA.

Mumtaz stated before the court that he even wrote to the SDA about construction of road and supply of water, gas and electricity around the plot but to no avail. He apprised the court that he has also purchased five more plots of 400 square yards from the SDA.

Moreover, the SDA argued that even if the auction were deemed legal, the applicant would not qualify to acquire an amenity plot from the authority. The officer pointed out that the SDA's Disposal of Plot Rules, 2009, outline specific qualifications required for amenity plots.

As per the procedure, the successful bidders of the authorized auctions are issued challans with specific QR codes for making payments. Commenting on other plots bought by Mumtaz, the SDA maintained that he was running commercial activities on residential plots.

Mumtaz is a federal government's employee working as Deputy General Manager in Ship Repair Division, with his posting in Karachi. "The authority had neither legally approved the auction of amenity plots, nor issued challan to the plaintiff. Then how can someone lay claim to owning the plot?" Kharal asked.

He contended that the applicant does not qualify to acquire an amenity plot from the authority even if the auction happened to be a legal transaction. He pointed out that SDA Disposal of Plot  Rules, 2009, has laid down the qualification required for the amenity plots.

"... should be alloted to registered and highly reputed societies, welfare trusts, educational and health institutes at the price not less than 50% of the market price or as fixed by the board and the authority," reads section 8 (d). The section 10 of the rules bars conversion of the amenity and residential plots to any other status.

Last week, 10 officers including Director P&DC, two deputy directors of land and master plan and seven assistant directors of SDA relinquished their posts in an apparent confrontation with the DG Saeed Sualeh Jumani. An officer, who is supporting the DG, said the authority is reviewing the allotments which these officers have been making in the SDA's housing schemes. On the other hand, some officers question the appointment of Jumani as the acting DG, because not only is he a BS-19 officer holding BS-20 charge, he is also heading Sindh Workers Welfare Board as its BS-20 Secretary.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2023.