MULTAN: A three-member committee constituted on the direction of deputy commissioner has recommended action against the officials of Municipal Corporation (MC), Multan, for providing shelter to an illegal lessee to run his unlawful business (benami) on the state land for 18 years, it is learnt.

The action has been suggested under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act, 2006.

DC Abdul Aamer Khattak constituted a committee, comprising Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Agha Zaheer Abbas Sherazi, Assistant Commissioner (City) Mansoor Qazi Baloch and Secretary District Regional Transport Authority Muhammad Kamran Afzal, to examine the case of lease of Muhammadi Petrol Pump, General Bus Stand (GBS) on Oct 10 after Muhammad Naeem Pasha Dogar submitted an application while stating that in 1989 he got the plot on lease from MC at the rent of Rs7,100 per month with 10 per cent annual increase.

He stated that after getting the possession he had been paying rent with annual increase regularly and was not a defaulter while he made construction from his own money besides getting the site plan approved.

He said the GBS superintendent made calculation of rent up to September and he is ready to pay the same.

He requested to extend the lease of the pump for further 40 years besides issuing the receipt of said amount and starting the recovery of monthly rent from him from October 2018.

The committee, however, found that the plot was leased out on Oct 18, 1986 through open auction to one namely Azhar Bashir who unlawfully sublet the lease to Muhammad Ashraf on July 1, 1993 while Ashraf sublet the lease further to Dogar who started to show himself as lessee.

On May 11, 2011, when Dogar was asked to pay first rent of one year in advance, he went to civil court and obtained status quo while depositing the rent with the court; however when the office of GBS checked the record it was revealed that neither he was actual lessee nor he ever paid the rent.

It was also revealed that the land again was auctioned on May 12, 2017 and one Tahir Mazhar offered highest bid of Rs125,500 per month and the legal adviser gave his opinion that as the land is under possession of Dogar who had been paying rent regularly since 1995 so according to Punjab Local Government Property Rules 2008, he should be given opportunity to accept or refuse the highest bid and Dogar agreed to pay Rs126,000 per month rent besides withdrawing litigation from the court.

The committee observed that no orders of subletting the lease in favour of Ashraf and then Pasha by the competent authority were available in the record file while the land was leased out for only five years and no orders for further extension of lease period passed by the competent authority are found in the file.

The committee also observed that lease was given to Bashir while Ashraf was the witness of the agreement contrary to the claim of Dogar the land was subletting to Ashraf and then to him; however a photocopy of application of April 25, 1995 is available in the file in which Dogar requested to issue him receipt of lease (for payment of rent) as plot in question was in the name of his partner Ashraf who left his business he (Dogar) is already doing the business since its start.

The committee was of the view that Dogar was neither lessee nor was empowered to get the right of lessee transferred in his favour. It was showed that the land was auctioned to Mazhar but possession was not delivered to him despite the fact that no auction proceedings were carried out.

“It appears that the fake and bogus action was carried out by the officials of then MC in connivance with Dogar in order to usurp the state property,” the report said.

It further said Dogar [being ‘grabber’] continued with unlawful business as the land in-question is not on lease after 1991.

It recommended action against the respective officials of MC under Peeda Act 2006. The property should fell under transfer of benami lease, FIR must be lodged against the delinquents on account of theft of original record, rent of the property from the date of illegal possession should be assessed through district rent assessment committee and recovered and the property should be got vacated.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2019