ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) said on Sunday it has established a self-accountability system to prevent attempts to allot plots using fraudulent means.

A CDA press release said several officials have been suspended for alleged wrong doing.

However, sources said none of the plots that were allowed on the basis of fraudulent documents have been cancelled and the authority is sitting on cases of allotment fraud.

“Not issuing cancellation orders for fraudulent allotments raises eyebrows. We caught many crystal clear fraud allotment cases in D-13, I-11 and I-12 but these allotments have not been cancelled,” a CDA officer said.

He said the allotments should have been cancelled on the first instance, adding: “Until the plots allowed on bogus documents are cancelled, the action will remain cosmetic.”

A senior officer said the fraudulent allotment cases are in the process of cancellation.

The authority’s press release stated that the CDA administration “has taken a firm/stern action” and suspended two directors, three deputy directors, four assistant directors and several other gazetted and non-gazetted officials from the land, estate management and one window directorates “who were allegedly involved in these wrongdoings”.

It said that besides these actions, CDA authorities also took cognisance of the matter by engaging and referring some cases to the Federal Investigation Agency to investigate them in a more detailed manner, such as the cases of fake allotments and corrigendum in I-12, I-14 and F-11/3, also known as Bekha Syedan.

The press release said that attempts to transfer these fake allotments were captured by security directorate staff at the time of the transfer.

The CDA administration has constituted an inquiry committee for issues requiring further inquiry to pinpoint transgressors and offenders and to determine the loss caused to the authority, it added.

A committee has also been constituted to scrutinise each plot file before any transfer to see if it is genuine in order to control the movement of fake or bogus plot files.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2020