sunny agha
Citizen
Sher Afzal allotted plots illegally
Muhammad Ahmad Noorani
Sunday, July 12, 2009
ISLAMABAD: The inquiry committee, set up by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, has declared that allotment of plots and houses made by former FGEHF DG Sher Afzal to journalists, himself, his close friends and to some senior officials of the Housing Ministry was illegal and in complete violation of rules.
The committee, in its report to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, also concludes that purchase of Rs3.68 billion land for a housing project in Bhara Kahu area of Islamabad was a nightmarish deal for the government exchequer.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has taken a suo moto on a column published in daily Jang’s editorial pages on May 26, 2009. In the column, it was alleged that certain journalists and columnists were writing in favour of Sher Afzal as they all had benefited from ‘generosity’ of the later during his tenure as the State Officer, Islamabad, and then as director general, Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF).
Sher Afzal Khan was also accused of purchasing useless land worth billions of rupees for a new housing scheme for the federal government employees.
The chief justice has ordered the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman to make an inquiry through an officer related to land issues into the allegations levelled in this column and report to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The 94-page report was submitted to the Office of Registrar of the Supreme Court on Friday.
Sher Afzal Khan was a civil judge in the NWFP and was serving on deputation in the Housing Ministry. When different scandals of corruption and nepotism surfaced against Sher Afzal, he chose to quit both his jobs instead of facing the allegations.
The report says that allotment of plots by Sher Afzal to eight journalists, belonging to different media groups, was made in complete violation of rules and defying the advertised policy made by the Information Ministry in consultation with journalists’ representatives.
The report reveals that first allotment was made to a senior journalist in January this year by giving a wrong reference of a court judgment when no scheme of plot allotments was underway.
This journalist was allotted a Category-I plot which, according to policy, was only for newspaper editors, the report says. It further says that following the allotment to this journalist, four other journalists were allotted plots with the same wrong reference of the court judgment which, in fact, never existed.
The report reveals that after allotment of plots to many journalists in 2005, an age-wise (on the basis of date of birth) seniority waiting-list was made in which all these journalists were much below in the column due to their younger ages. “The first allottee was at number-29 in Category-II,” the report presented in the Supreme Court reads.
It says that Sher Afzal also allotted plots to other journalists secretly at a time when no scheme of allotting plots was underway in a wrong category and ignoring the seniors, placed above in the seniority list.
The report says that the said court judgment, passed in February 2006, never ordered allotment of plot to any journalist. The report says that after allotment to these five journalists, three other journalists were also allotted plots in complete violation of rules.
It says that a journalist was first allotted a plot in Sector I-8 (an allotment that was not possible in any way), adding that later on this plot was shifted to Sector G-14. This comprehensive report illustrates illegalities committed in case of every journalist separately by giving their names and connections.
The report says that changing the rules of eligibility from one and a half years to six months benefited 10 officers of the Housing Ministry. It says that most of these officers considering illegalities in their allotments sold their plots for millions of rupees. It says that allotment of Category-I plots by Sher Afzal to himself and Housing Joint Secretary Fakhar Zaman in luxurious Sector I-8 of Islamabad was illegal as both were members of the NWFP judiciary, while the FGEHF allots plots to federal government employees. The report reveals that Sher Afzal had also allotted a plot to one of his close friends, a retired Army major, who has the fame of playing the main role in Operation Midnight Jackal. This renowned major was given the plot on quota of the disabled persons. Interestingly, according to the report, this plot was allotted in luxurious Sector I-8 where no plots could be allotted.
The report gives a complete brief to the apex court on purchase of 1,600 kanals of land in Bhara Kahu (Zone-IV of Islamabad Capital Territory) where only 35 percent of land could be used for residential purposes because of its hilly nature. The News Investigation Wing unearthed this scam on May 21 this year.
The report says that not only the land was purchased at a very high cost as compared to its market value but also no NOC was acquired from the CDA as CDA rules did not permit any construction in Zone-IV of this region.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=187631&Cat=2&dt=7/12/2009
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