July 28, 2008	Monday	Rajab 24, 1429

LAHORE, July 27: The National Accountability Bureau has stopped taking up new cases of the housing societies where irregularities have been reported thus leaving their members at the mercy of fraudsters.

According to a number of allottees of Sargodha Cooperative Housing Scheme (SCHS), their plots had changed many hands on fake documents during a decade or so and after NAB’s refusal to register their cases, they are at a loss where to move to redress their grievances. NAB, however, blames shortage of funds and staff for not entertaining fresh cases.

Providing a detailed account of irregularities in the society, some members told Dawn on Sunday that SCHS was launched in 1985 on Raiwind Road under the Cooperative Housing Scheme Act and some 200 plots of one kanal each had been allotted.

They said procedure and process of transfer of land, allotment letters and sale receipts had been changed, making the documents authenticity of the old and new members ‘doubtful’. They also pointed out that reselling of a good number of plots thrice was resulting in disputes among their claimants.

They said there had been no proper record or list of members with the society management. No audit had been carried out since long to check the transparency of the financial accounts of the society. The sale and purchase of plots, they said, had also been made without the notice of the executive committee of the society.

They said annual general meeting of the society members had not been taken place for the last three years. So much so there was no permanent office of the society where the members could go and register their concerns, they maintained.

Pointing out further irregularities, they said there was no permanent map of the society as it had been changed on numerous occasions as a result of which ‘authentic’ record of the plots numbers did not exist.

They said the subsequent managements of the society had also declared ‘35 commercial plots’ residential and also sold them out.

They said when they approached the Punjab chapter of NAB to register their complaint as they had enough evidence to their claim, the officer concerned maintained that the bureau’s resources did not permit it to take up any more cases like this. Thereafter, they had contacted the registrar of the Punjab Cooperative Housing Department in this regard but to no avail.

A NAB spokesman told Dawn that owing to extreme financial crunch the bureau was concentrating on meeting the progress of the cases under inquiry or in the accountability courts. He said the bureau was also facing problems in such cases after a good number of investigators lay-off.

Punjab Cooperative Housing Department registrar Hassan Iqbal told this reporter that the office had received numerous complaints regarding irregularities in the SHCS.

He said the office had found the grievances of the society’s members genuine and subsequently issued a notice to the society management. He said the management of the society got a stay from the Lahore High Court and an application would be moved for its vacation.