ISLAMABAD: On the intervention of the Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, the Islamabad district administration has suspended the management committee of the Senate Secretariat Employees Cooperative Housing Society (SSECHS) and appointed an administrator to conduct an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the society.

The administrator, Magistrate Malik Farrukh Nadeem, will identify all the alleged irregularities and submit a report to the registrar of the Cooperative Societies Department (CSD) within a month.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Mushtaq Ahmed told Dawn that a few days ago the Senate chairman called him and complained that an illegal housing society was advertising and selling plots using the name of the upper house of parliament.

Magistrate appointed as administrator and asked to probe alleged irregularities in the society within a month

“I immediately ordered the removal of all the advertisements and after that the Cooperative Societies Department took further action,” he said.

The management of the housing society published the advertisements for ‘Senate Avenue’, giving an impression that the government or the Senate of Pakistan owned the scheme. However, the authorities concerned did not take notice of the illegal business.

An official of the CSD, who was not authorised to speak to the press on record, told Dawn that the society had been functional for many years. It possessed almost 1,100 kanals of land and got a layout plan approved for a 679-kanal compact land.

“However, last year we received a letter from the Senate that it was not the official society of the upper house of parliament and should not use its name. We were advised to take steps to remove the name of the Senate from the society. But as the land was purchased in the name of the society, the advice to remove the name of the Senate could not be implemented,” he said.

“Currently, SSECHS has entered into a joint venture with a company and is offering plots for sale. We issued a show-cause notice to the society that how it can sell plots without seeking an approval and meeting the requirements of the CSD and the Capital Development Authority (CDA),” he said.

In response, the society submitted documents and claimed that it had around 450 kanals and wanted to sell over 400 plots measuring 30x60 each. The Senate Avenue is located on Japan Road in Zone V, he said.

The official said during the initial investigation, it transpired that there were so many irregularities in the SSECHS and it had even decided not to receive an affiliation fee from private land owners due to which there was no financial benefit for the members of the society.

It may be noted that whenever a private land owner enters into a joint venture with a housing society to sell his land by using the name of the society, the latter receives a per-kanal affiliation fee which is spent on the welfare of the society members.

The official said the administrator of the society would hold a detailed inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the society and submit a report within a month. Moreover, he will also run the day-to-day affairs of the society.

A spokesperson for the Senate has already stated that the Senate Secretariat had nothing to do with the SECHS or the Senate Avenue.

Meanwhile, the CDA has declared over 100 housing societies in the federal capital as illegal. Thousands of people had invested their life-time savings in some of the housing societies but are yet to get the possession of plots. They even cannot get their money refunded because the managements of the societies have either changed or fled from the country.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2016