Land grabbing: ICT registrar removed amid allegations of corruption

IHC had ordered Deen’s removal last year; he has been replaced by Muhammad Sadaqat.

ISLAMABAD:

The chief commissioner on Monday removed the circle registrar for the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Malik Deen is allegedly involved in multi-billion land scams.

Dozens of inquiries were initiated by the ICT administration against Deen, a grade -17 employee, after they received complaints. Deen, who was appointed in 2010, is allegedly backed by a real estate tycoon for whom he played a key role in encroaching land in and around the capital.

Last September, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had directed the capital’s chief commissioner to remove him after two cases were filed against him, however he did not comply due to pressure from the business tycoon.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Deen was removed after the ICT administration received a multitude of complaints against him. In one of the latest complaints, ICT administration had received information about a land grab near the expressway which Deen had planned. The police had registered an FIR against him, but he had obtained pre-arrest bail from IHC earlier this month.

Asad Malik had filed a petition against Deen in IHC in 2012 for defrauding him by setting up a fake housing society, Leo International. He informed the court that after depositing payment for a plot, he found that the housing society was fake, but when he tried to get his money back, the circle registrar ordered that the company’s account be frozen.

Muhammad Sadaqat has been appointed as the new circle registrar.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2013.