Over 3,000 govt plots allotted without approval in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: A minister in the Shaukat Aziz government issued unauthorised and unapproved ownership certificates two years ago to more than 3,000 persons in Karachi on his own authority, without any government approved policy. According to one estimate, the value of this government property is more than Rs 200 billion.

The Housing and Works Secretary, Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, told The News the issue would be taken up before the new government as the then minister had awarded the ownership eligibility certificates to residents of the government-owned accommodation in Karachi in more than 3,050 cases.

Rauf Chaudhry said while the former prime minister had constituted a committee to discuss a proposal for issuing the ownership eligibility certificates to the occupants of government houses, having long stay in Islamabad and Karachi, the then minister, Syed Safwanullah, issued the proposed certificates on his own and without waiting for the approval of the policy.

The housing secretary said many of those, who had been issued bogus certificates, had already sold the government property. He said the ministry apprehended massive litigation if it re-claimed the property and, therefore, the issue was now being brought up before the new minister and the cabinet for decision.

The government-owned residential accommodation in question is located at Jahangir Road, Martin Road, Clayton Road, Jamshed Quarters, Patel Para and Pakistan Quarters. Safwanullah, however, when contacted, said a cabinet committee under the then prime minister had recommended re-developing the area.

He said the recommendation was to give the present occupants shelter in the re-developed structures. Safwanullah, admitting that the said recommendation was never approved by the cabinet, said he had issued the eligibility certificate to residents of more than 3,000 government-owned houses/quarters in Karachi to ensure that the claimants of the ownership did not change once the

government took a decision on the cabinet committee's recommendation.

The minister said the title of properties in question was not changed; rather only the ownership eligibility certificates were issued. The former minister, who belongs to the MQM, insisted that similar certificates were issued to the occupants of G-6 residents in Islamabad. Officials in the federal housing ministry, however, denied that any such certificate was ever issued to anyone in Islamabad.

These officials also revealed that the recommendation of the cabinet committee was not for the Karachi property but for the G-6 Sector in Islamabad. The recommendation, it is said, was to re-develop the G-6 Sector by building multi-storey flats for the accommodation of civil servants. It was also recommended that long-time occupants, including retired employees and widows, would be allotted a set of flats on ownership basis.

According to a fact-finding report, submitted by Estate Officer Sher Afzal Khan on Feb 12, 2008, serious blunders were committed in the process leading to the issuance of eligibility of ownership certificates. The report said for "extraneous considerations", the government accommodation was doled out in complete violation of the law and rules.

The estate officer, who visited Karachi to conduct the inquiry, said a novel method was invented and the concept of eligibility certificates was introduced for the transfer of valuable state-owned property on the desire of the then minister for housing in 2005 without getting the approval of the federal cabinet.

"In fact, no policy decision was taken at the competent level and statements of inquiry witnesses confirm that the matter remained confined to the Estate Office, Karachi. The then estate officer, Ghulam Abbas Baloch was specially sent to Karachi on the directive of the then minister for housing and works to accomplish the task," the report reveals.

"It is noteworthy to mention that the substance of eligibility of Ownership Certificates does not appear to have been drafted in consultation with the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights as it is devoid of legal wisdom and does not quote the authority of law as sanction behind it," the report said, adding in most of the cases these certificates had nothing to do with authorised occupants but only names of persons were entered without any verification, who was predetermined to be the beneficiaries.

"A further inquiry into the matter revealed that only a non-verified claim of occupancy was made a basis for declaring them eligible for certificate of eligibility for ownership. The survey of occupants was conducted in a prescribed manner under the supervision of a sector in-charge of the MQM." The inquiry officer recommended to the government that certificates of eligibility of ownership may be revoked immediately.