ISLAMABAD: The civic agency has requested the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) for conducting a forensic audit of eligibility certificates (ECs) issued by the CDA from 1960 to 1986 to people for allotment of land in colony districts of Punjab for their settlement in lieu of their land acquired in Islamabad.

Sources in the CDA said there were several reports about double benefits as many ECs holders later surrendered their ECs to get agro farms in Islamabad. Therefore, the CDA has decided to get a forensic audit of all the ECs done by the AGP.

An official of the CDA told Dawn that the Member Estate on Monday wrote a letter to the AGP office. The letter said: “Initially, for the settlement of land acquisition for persons owing cultivated agriculture land only, the authority launched Rehabilitation Scheme in 1965. Also, the initial regulations came for issuing ECs in 1960. The scheme covered eight colony districts and barrage areas of Sindh. From 1961 until 1987, the authority issued 16137 ECs in 153 of 232 acquired mouzas to affected citizens in eight Punjab colony districts and two colony districts of Sindh province.”

The letter said many EC awardees surrendered the certificates and the CDA under clause 7(2) of Islamabad Displaced Persons Rehabilitation Policy 1996 cancelled the ECs and allotted the affected people residential plots/agro farms in Islamabad.

It said there had been maladministration and malfeasance cases where ECs were surrendered and rehabilitation benefits in the shape of agro farms/residential plots allotted. The letter said the ECs, which were surrendered in favour of CDA, were deemed to have been utilised and bogus/fabricated signatures of officials/officers of Punjab government.

The agriculture land was either allotted or already sold through private transactions, it said. Verifying the surrendered ECs has become a cumbersome process wherein the colony districts must accurately record the non-allotment of agriculture land.

“Questions on the genuineness of surrendered ECs are raised whereby negating a common fact that the 1970s issued EC holders are still claiming rehabilitation benefits.”

The letter said there are numerous agro farm allotments wherein ECs were issued and cancelled through a dubious process and such cases eventually landed in courts and in one instance reached Supreme Court, which ordered the FIA to initiate an inquiry into allotment of B-36 agro farms in which ECs were issued and later surrendered through a dubious process.

It said that after the Supreme Court’s direction of 2018, some of colony districts deputy commissioners had demanded a forensic audit report from the AGP office.

“The DCs have regretted the confirmation unless and until the conclusion of the forensic audit,” the letter said.

It is requested that in the light of Supreme Court of Pakistan’s directions in civil appeal 19 of 2014, forensic audit of ECs be conducted, the letter added. Besides issuing ECs for land in colony districts, the CDA also dealt with the land affected people through compensation by allotment of plots against the acquired land and built-up property.

The letter said so far land spreading over 304.62 kilometres had been acquired through individual awards. The total number of awards announced by the CDA so far against the acquired land is 527 while 158 awards have been notified for built-up properties.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2023