ISLAMABAD: After a number of complaints about housing societies’ operations, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration has introduced a set of reforms to improve the workings of cooperative housing societies and curtail corruption by increasing auditors’ responsibilities.

The amendments were made on directions from Chief Commissioner Zulfiqar Haider to ensure transparency and objectivity in housing societies’ financial matters.

Plots in housing societies are sold at lower rates compared to plots belonging to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), leading most people to invest their savings in these societies. However, some societies did not hand over plots to whom they were allotted and the owners of others left the country after collecting money from buyers.

Housing society owners who violate guidelines, auditors who connive with societies’ managements

could face legal action

The Cooperative Housing Societies ICT registrar has now issued new guidelines for auditor and management committees under the Cooperative Societies Act 1925, according to which only credible auditors – that have been recognised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan – are entitled to audit cooperative housing societies.

Auditors also have to ensure that a society’s business is conducted according to cooperative principles, bylaws are followed and annual general body meetings are held.

The auditors will have to ensure that the rules of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) are observed and a society is abiding by the layout plan approved by the relevant development agency.

They will also be responsible for seeing if commercial and residential plots in a society are made according to the bylaws and layout plan. If an auditor is found guilty of conniving with a managing committee by concealing, misreporting or tampering with any information the auditor will be blacklisted and will face legal action.

Similarly, if housing societies’ management committees do not follow the guidelines, they too will face action. A defaulter could face six months to three years in prison.

According to an official statement released on Friday, Chief Commissioner Haider has taken a number of steps over the last year to address matters related to housing societies, including launching an official website of the cooperative department an introducing an online complaint system.

All societies have been directed to upload audit reports, minutes of annual general body meetings, voter lists and so on, to the website.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2016