April 04, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 26, 1429

KARACHI, April 3: An inquiry into the fraudulent conversion of the status of a plot measuring 4,734 square yards to commercial, has found four senior officials of the city government’s land management department (LM-II) responsible for the issuance of illegal mutation orders in this regard.

Besides, the officials involved in the scam were not authorized to either renew the lease or order the transfer of the said plot reportedly an evacuee property.

According to the sources in the city government, the executive district officer (Revenue) had appointed the CDGK’s additional district officer (Revenue-II) to conduct a probe into the matter regarding the illegal conversion of Plot No15, Sheet No CL-7, Civil Line Quarters. The investigating officer after conducting thorough research has recommended action against the officials involved in the issuance of unlawful mutation orders in respect of the plot.

In his report, the inquiry officer has stated that according to the Record of Rights, Plot No 15, Sheet No CL-7, Civil Lines Quarters, Karachi, measuring 4,734 square yards, was originally leased for a period of 99 years with effect from July 28, 1879 on B-I form of lease which expired on July 28, 1978. Subsequently, the lease was renewed further for another 99 years with effect from July 28, 1978. However, no record is available in the record file showing whether the plot lease was renewed or not and on whose name, the report says.

It pointed out that the plot in question was purely a residential plot and not a commercial plot as per the past record available with the relevant department and as such the record clerk, Mohammad Shahid Iqbal, currently working as deputy district officer, had provided incorrect status of the said plot as a commercial one.

Besides, when the district officer (LM-II) had inquired about the status of the plot in question from the assistant district officer, it was shown as commercial, which, according to the inquiry officer, was incorrect.

The report further said that a meeting held in the committee room of the DCO had determined that the plot in question had never been commercialised officially. During the same meeting, the remarks of extract and confirmation made by the ADO (Record) were termed as manipulation of records and subsequently, the entry got cancelled on Sept 26, 2007.

Elaborating, the report said that district officer (LM-II) had also confirmed that the plot had never been commercialized by the competent authority or processed in his office or Master Plan Group of Offices nor any commercialisation fee was received in this record.

The inquiry officer stated that the deputy district officer and district officer (LM-II) seemed to be negligent in the above mutation case and their carelessness resulted into the unlawful mutation of the said plot in collaboration with the officers of land department (LM-II).

Mentioning that the property bearing No 15, CL-7, Civil Lines Quarters, Karachi, has been declared as “Evacuee Property” as per the notification issued by the federal government on July 15, 1963, the inquiry officer has questioned as to how the evacuee property has been transferred and renewed by the persons involved in it. Recommending action against officers allegedly involved in the plots’ mutation, the inquiry officer has stated that they may be given show-cause notices under the special powers of SLGO-2000.

According to the inquiry report, the officials involved in the unlawful mutation case pertaining to the plot include district officer (LM-II), assistant district officer (LM-II), deputy district officer, Saddar Town-II, and deputy district officer Scrutiny, Saddar Town.