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| December 18, 2007 | Tuesday | Zilhaj 7, 1428 |
KARACHI: NAB probe into Rs10bn land scam closed
KARACHI, Dec 17: The National Accountability Bureau, Sindh, has closed down an inquiry into the land scam that involved over Rs10 billion and influential people including some government functionaries, it has been learnt reliably here on Monday.
According to the sources, the amenity land located near Banaras Chowk on main Manghopir Road in Orangi Town had been allotted to Maulana Abdul Hamid Badayuni, chief of Anjuman Tableegh-ul-Islam, for setting up of educational institutes in 1962. However, sources said, the trustees in connivance with the government officials and land grabbers decided to make a windfall and sell the precious land. Hundreds of shops and other commercial and residential establishments had been set up on the land that originally was allotted for educational purposes, they added.
The complainant in this case, Sindh Shehri Federation, after learning that the inquiry has been closed down has approached NAB chief Naveed Ahsan. Alleging that the influential culprits are being protected by his subordinates in the NAB Sindh, the complainant has urged him to institute a high-level probe into the issue so that culprits could be brought to book and punished in accordance with the law.
The NAB had sent a letter to anti-corruption establishment stating that the inquiry against former deputy commissioner, Karachi West, and others had been closed down and asking the ACE to depute relevant officials to get back the documents, which were earlier obtained by the NAB.
The letter (2231/27/IW-2/CO-F/T-23/NAB Sindh/2007), written by Deputy Director (Coordination) Lieutenant Commander Syed Fahim Uddin to Anti-Corruption Establishment Director A.D. Khowaja, on the subject “inquiry against Naveed Kamran Baloch, Ex DC-(West) Karachi and others” states:
“Reference: Your letter No 10-Comp/K/2001/10484-86 dated nil October 2007. Reference above letter, the subject enquiry was closed on the similar allegations. Relevant official may be deputed to collect the ACE documents then obtained by NAB, please,” concludes Syed Fahim Uddin.
Sources said that the government had allotted a five-acre land off the main Manghopir Road near Banaras Chowk to the chief of Anjuman Tableegh-ul-Islam, Maulana Abdul Hamid Badayuni, on January 20, 1962 for the construction of Muslim Missionary College. The allotment was made on a condition that if the allottee/s failed to utilise the land for the specified purpose within three years, the land would be resumed by the government.
Just over a year later, the sources said, Maulana Badayuni was allotted 10 more acres adjacent to the land already allotted to him on April 10, 1963 under the same conditions.
The land was given on a 99-year lease at a cost of 50 paisa per square-yard, plus Rs50 per acre annually. Though the payment was made by the Anjuman, the land was not used for the purpose it was allotted for over 35 years.
With the passage of time as the value of land went sky-high, some trustees of the Anjuman in connivance of the government functionaries reportedly decided to make a windfall and sell the land that was allotted for educational purposes at a very nominal cost. Subsequently, overnight encroachments appeared and cement concrete structures were raised on the precious land, with the trustees and the government functionaries keeping a mum over it. The issue was raised occasionally though it appeared more of a cosmetic effort to keep the record straight.
Hardly a couple of acres were left for the college while rest of the entire land was disposed off and in the process the trustees, government officials and land grabbers reportedly made billions of rupees.
After the death of Maulana Hamid Badayuni, his son Maulana Abid Qadri took over the charge as president of the Anjuman. He informed Deputy Commissioner, West, Naveed Kamran Baloch in 1997 that the Anjuman had adopted a resolution that it might be allowed to sub-lease five acres, which, it claimed, had been encroached, to the occupants. DC Naveed Baloch granted the request on June 22, 1997 but clarified that the said permission did not authorise conversion of the land for any commercial purposes.
According to the sources, when the Anjuman failed to utilise the land for over 35 years and thus violated the specific lease conditions about the purpose and timeframe, the land should have been resumed by the government. On the contrary, Deputy Commissioner Naveed Baloch authorised the sub-lease of the land though the resolution was not at all binding on the government.
In a communiqué sent to the commissioner on the issue, DC West Tariq Niazi, who succeeded Kamran Baloch, stressed that the sub-leases be cancelled, the land be resumed by the government, and cases of fraud be registered against the trustees and others.
Anti-corruption Establishment Director Ghulam Qadir Thebo, in his communication on the issue with the ACE chairman enquiries, had also found ex-DC Kamran Naveed Baloch, Mukhtiarkar Masroor Buriro, Tapedar Yusuf Kalwar, 15 beneficiaries and others involved in the grave misappropriations.
Shoaib Bukhari, who was then the provincial labour minister, had also written to former chief minister Liaquat Jatoi on the issue urging him to take stern action against those who had misused the amenity land. However, no action had been taken against the people involved in the misappropriation of the amenity land.
The Anjuman Tableegh-ul-Islam was set up nearly half a century back with an aim to promote religious education in the country and overseas by establishing seminaries, schools, jamias, darul uloom, darul moalimeen, an Islamic university on the lines of Egypt’s Jamiatul Azhar.
President Ayub Khan had laid the foundation of Jamia Taleemat-i-Islami on the allotted land on Sept 3, 1962 and announced a donation of Rs100,000 for the institution. However, only one college that had been established on a couple of acres still functions.
Sindh Shehri Federation chief Tahir Sawati, who has now approached the NAB chief, said that he would continue his struggle against the influential people, powerful land grabbers and government functionaries till the issue was resolved, the land was resumed and the culprits were brought to the book.
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