ISLAMABAD: Files were confiscated on Thursday by security directorate of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) as probe into new alleged fraudulent allotment of plots in sector I-11 continues, Dawn has learnt.

According to sources, after receiving a complaint, Member Estate Naveed Ilahi, a few days ago, directed the security directorate to conduct preliminary probe of 11 plots of sector I-11, which were allegedly allotted with backdated signature. “Yes, security directorate confiscated some files of sector I-11 on Thursday. After probe it will be clear, if these plots were allotted in accordance with rules or fraudulently. The allegations are that 11 plots have been allotted with backdated signatures of various officers,” said an official of CDA.

It is relevant to note that a couple of years ago, over 100 such allotments in sector I-11 and I-12 based on backdated signatures surfaced and the security directorate had pointed out that a detailed investigation must be carried out. However, so far, neither the said over 100 plots were declared cancelled nor action was taken against anyone, in fact the detailed inquiry has still not been completed.

Earlier, in 2017, the CDA introduced a new policy stating that in the future, no plot would be allotted to those affected by land acquisition on pick and choose basis and all such allotments would be made through balloting. For this, the CDA had prepared lists of 800 plots available in the sectors and had allotted around 250 plots through balloting while the remaining plots were kept in record for the future.

Later on, no balloting was carried out which signifies that the plots that were kept in CDA’s record in 2017 should be available as vacant. However, a large number of plots that were shown as vacant, particularly in sector I-12 in 2017 were marked as allotted in later years.

Some officials alleged that since these allotments were made fraudulently, questions about authenticity of some of the files were raised. A few years ago, the security directorate had confiscated record of seven fraudulent files of an I series sector from One Window Operation (OWP), minutes before their transfer. The case was referred to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as well, which last year, registered a first information report (FIR) related to one plot while a probe is still going on into the remaining files.

Meanwhile, last month CDA management formed a committee headed by deputy director general estate to probe alleged fraudulent allotment of seven plots of sector D-13 within 10 days. This scam surfaced earlier this year, when then additional director land Sobia Toru, pointed out her fake signature on some files. Sources said that probe of the D-13 scam is near completion.

An official said that in past, some corrupt elements in land directorate of CDA with the support of property dealers used to mint money in pick and choose base allotments, but after 2017, when this practice was stopped and balloting was ordered, they shifted their focus towards backdated and fraudulent allotments and numbers of such cases surfaced after 2017-18 and many of them were uncovered by current managements itself during the last two years.

When contacted, CDA’s spokesperson Syed Asif Raza said that some suspicious allotments of I-11 were reported to member estate, who asked security directorate to conduct preliminary probe to ascertain facts. “At this stage, you can’t say it a scam rather we are conducting a fact finding. In case any wrongdoing is proved, then strict action would be taken against guilty officials after completing legal procedure,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2022