Official sources told The Express Tribune that Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi decided to stop the departmental inquiry under the pretext that CDA was not the competent authority to probe the issue or to fix responsibility.
They added that Member Environment, Mian Waheeduddin, who was heading the inquiry committee probing former Land Director Wasim Shamshad, received directions from the chairman’s office to stop further inquiry. The former land director was stated to be the front man and allegedly involved in the scam, sources said.
The issue may be referred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to avoid further criticism. In a meeting with Member Engineering, sources said, CDA chairman expressed his concern in this regard and said that due to immense political pressure the civic agency could not afford to continue this inquiry.
Earlier, officials of the land directorate were allegedly involved in making fake allotments during the award of Kuri Village in Zone IV, Sarai Bokhara village in sector I-11/I-12 and some 13 agricultural farms in Chak Shehzad Scheme. Following the scandal, Elahi transferred Waseem Shamshad, the director of land, to one-window department.
An official in the land department, requesting not to be named, alleged that Shamshad made controversial allotments on the directions of top officials in the authority. The official added that Member Engineering Abdul Jabbar Malano conveyed the CDA chairman’s verbal orders to the inquiry committee’s head.
However, the Planning Directorate is yet to receive an official notification on the suspension of the probe, officials said. When asked, Member Engineering Abdul Jabbar Malano, who is also member of the inquiry committee, confirmed the move and said that NAB was the proper forum to investigate the scam. He rejected the notion that the decision had been taken under any political pressure and said that no high-level official was involved in the scam.
Malano replied that high officials were part of the Allotment Scrutiny Committee (ASC) but they were not aware of the irregularities in the allotment of agro farms. The ASC comprising members of estate, finance and planning, was supposed to ensure transparency in the allotment process, but failed to deliver in what turned out to be one of the biggest scams in the civic agency.
Chairman Elahi was quoted as saying, “This is a difficult decision as the image of the authority is at stake so therefore we should refer the issue to NAB.”
Member Estate SM Farooqui, the current in-charge of the land directorate, told The Express Tribune that the former land director was solely responsible for this scam because he had taken away the official files from the office, which was in violation of CDA rules.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2010.
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