PESHAWAR, Dec 19: An eleven-member committee of the City District Council, which is looking into the auction of 50 plots in the Hayatabad Township, has recommended action against the management of the City District and Municipal Department (CDMD) for withholding records, sources said.

The CDMD’s director-general and officials concerned were directed to appear before the committee and produce records of the said plots which had been sold to two parties and award of various contracts in the township.

“The committee has been intimating director-general (of) CDMD since July last to provide records regarding the auction of plots and award of contracts, but the management is adamant that it will not cooperate with the council members,” chairman of the inquiry committee Nazim Riaz Baacha said.

“The committee is convinced that CDMD management is concealing the record,” Mr Baacha told Dawn on Monday.

He said the CDMD officials were directed to appear before the committee, which held its meeting on Saturday last, but nobody from the department turned up at the meeting. He said the committee had now recommended action against the department.

The City District Council had constituted a committee to look into the sale of 50 plots, each of them measuring one kanal. Sources said the CDMD had sold these plots much below the market price, causing financial loss to the national exchequer.

The investigation committee, said the sources, had sought the record of the contract awarded to various contractors of the Hayatabad Township and other parts of the district.

In this regard the committee had recommended constituting a three-member committee, comprising nazims and councilors to monitor processing of the contracts being awarded by the CDMD.