THE ongoing Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) campaign regarding the registration of property dealers for transactions of land is a welcome step, for it will regulate the real estate sector.

The FBR might now be interested in having a look at the way things are being handled at the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Quetta, which issued thousands of ‘bearer land files’, also called ‘affidavits’, that represent a file of one kanal (about 500 square metres) in the housing scheme.

This file is just like a bearer bond, but its value has already increased from Rs2.8 million to Rs6.5 million over a period of just three months.

It is being sold by property dealers without any documentation and it changes hands without any payment in terms of taxes.

There is no record of ownership or who gains how much either with the DHA or with the tax authorities. The DHA Quetta management verifies the authenticity of a file against a meagre sum of Rs2,000 from its offices in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta.

The procedure for the verification of affidavit file can be found on the relevant website (www.dhaquetta.org/AffVer). As the change of ownership is not recorded, it does not generate any revenue for the FBR.

The government, especially the FBR, must look into the matter and ensure that such transactions are discouraged, and the relevant details are available not only with DHA Quetta, but also with the FBR.

Zeeshan Ali
Nowshera

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2021