KARACHI, Aug 3: Sindh Ombudsman Justice (Retd) Haziqul Khairi has directed the Malir Development Project director to submit the remaining cheques of thousands of victims of a defunct housing scheme to the Ombudsman’s secretariat.

The Ombudsman issued the directive on Saturday after the project’s deputy director Ayub Fazlani appeared before the Ombudsman’s adviser, Abdul Mateen Khan, and submitted that cheques were with the office concerned but could not be distributed because of an injunction issued by the SHC on a contempt of court notice.

On the last hearing, the Ombudsman had directed the project director to reimburse the money to the affectees within a week. The Ombudsman had also called for submitting a compliance report on Aug 2.

Over seven years ago, the defunct MDA had launched a new Malir Housing Project, collecting over a billion rupees from 32,000 applicants. The prospective allottees had neither been given plots nor had they been reimbursed their money.

The Ombudsman taking a suo motu action on reports published in the press, called upon the respondents to reimburse the money without deducting any charges. — Staff Reporter