HARIPUR: Local government secretary Syed Zaheerul Islam has chargesheeted Khanpur tehsil officer (infrastructure) Waseem Kamran for allegedly committing irregularities by issuing the provisional NOC and layout plan to a private housing society, which didn’t have the mandatory development facilities for the project.

The charge sheet, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said the Khanpur TOI processed the provisional NOC for the New Khanpur City Housing Scheme though the project didn’t have gas and electric supply, streets, roads, sewerage system and other required facilities. It added that the officer didn’t verify the layout plan with ground facilities required under the Site Development Rules, 2005.

The secretary referred to a fact-finding inquiry by Swabi Urban Area Development Authority official Syed Mohammad Sohail and local government deputy secretary (admin) Mohammad Irshad and insisted that the TOI had committed misconduct.

“You [Waseem Kamran] have rendered yourself liable to all or any of the penalties specified in the rules, so you should submit your written defence in the next seven days,” read the charge sheet.

He allegedly issued provisional NOC to ill-equipped developer

According to official sources, the inquiry against Mr Kamran was held on the complaint of resident Malik Khursheed, who formally approached the LG secretary in June last year.

The complainant insisted that the municipality didn’t fulfil formalities in the case, so forensic analysis of the documents should be held to detect mala fide intent and irregularities in the entire exercise.

He pointed out that the house project was to be put up on agricultural land, while authorities registered its developer after the issuance of NOC and LoP.

When contacted, TOI Kamran confirmed the development and said he had formally responded to the charge sheet.

He said though he was not the tehsil municipal officer at the time of the issuance of NOC or LoP, legal formalities were fulfilled for the purpose.

“The housing scheme was approved in 2020 by the then deputy commissioner, while the NOC and LoP were issued in Jan 2021 after the verification of land documents, which showed that the housing scheme possessed 554 kanals of barren land,” he said.

The TOI said the developer produced a copy of the project’s written approval by the deputy commissioner along with attested documents of land ownership and NOC issued by the environment protection agency.

He said work on the housing scheme came to a halt after land’s owners and developer moved court against each other.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2023