According to a confidential notice sent recently to the registrar of Sindh Cooperative Societies and the secretary of the Sindh Cooperatives Department, the anti-corruption body is currently conducting an enquiry against former administrators of the housing society.
Cooperative housing societies are associations owned and run by semi-governmental or non-governmental organisations for the benefit of their employees. PIDC employees set up their cooperative housing society on a plot of 40 acres in Karachi Development Authority’s Scheme-33, back in 1971.
However, Sindh’s cooperatives department suspended the elected committee of the PIDC Multipurpose Cooperative Housing Society in 2010 and appointed an ‘administrator’. They claimed there was mismanagement in its affairs. There have been four Sindh government-appointed administrators since 2010.
According to members of the cooperative housing society, some government officials have been stealing money from the society’s bank accounts and have tampered with land records to allot plots to outsiders. “NAB Sindh has decided to…prevent execution of leases and sub-leases in respect of sale, change of title or creation of any right/charge upon till finalisation of the inquiry to safeguard the interest of legitimate allottees of plots,” the NAB notice said.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, former elected secretary general of the cooperative society, Tahir Ahmed Sheikh, said the act of superseding the elected committee of the cooperative housing society was a violation of the Cooperative Societies Act, 1925. “We held general meetings and audits every year. There was no mismanagement in the affairs of the cooperative society,” Sheikh insisted.
He said the registrar can hold an enquiry against a society following a request by one-third of the members of the society. Noting that there was no complaint from any member, Sheikh said the decision to suspend the elected body by the Sindh Cooperatives Department was without any legal basis.
Sheikh claimed successive administrators have already embezzled approximately Rs30 million in the last four years. He said as many as 132 new members have been illegally inducted into the cooperative housing society. Government officials also held a ‘fake election’ of the managing committee in which 13 members were elected unopposed, he said.
“These 13 people have never been PIDC employees, which makes their so-called election invalid. They are now tampering with the records and drawing money from society’s bank accounts,” he added.
NAB Sindh has said it is aware of “illegal transactions in allotment, re-allotment and cancellation of residential plots” that are in violation of the society’s bylaws and provision of Cooperative Societies Act, 1925. “[These] are being taken place at the insistence of the management of PIDC Multipurpose Cooperative Society in connivance with the officers of the cooperation department,” the NAB notice said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Sindh Cooperative Societies registrar refused to comment. “The registrar will not make any statement on the issue because NAB is already looking into it,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2014.
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