HYDERABAD: The director general of the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) has made a formal request to the Local Government secretary for a thorough inquiry into the approval of a private housing scheme on the basis of a forged letter.

HDA’s fresh request followed an earlier communication to the civic agency’s DG from Deputy Commissioner Zain Ul Abiden, who had also sought such an inquiry into the approval of several housing schemes on the basis of forged letters, purportedly issued by the assistant commissioner-I, who has since disowned several such letters.

The private housing scheme, specified in the DG’s request, was approved in the property-wise expensive location i.e. Autobahn Road.

The district administration has also called for strict action against the culprits and cancellation of the scheme.

Latifabad ADC-I disowns letter for approval attributed to him; his signature, stamp found fake

“Not only this, the NOC and layout plan issued in favour of the housing society are required to be cancelled to prevent fraudulent practices in future, the DC had stated in his April 9 letter. He had drawn the HDA director general’s attention towards the issuance of a January 3, 2025 letter purportedly issued by the ADC-I.

The letter, addressed to the director planning & development control (P&DC) of the HDA, was declared ‘forged’.

In this Jan 3, 2025 letter, ADC-I Gada Hussain Soomro was mentioned as “an officer from Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) cadre” which was factually incorrect as Mr Soomro was an officer of “Ex-PCS cadre”.

HDA’s P&DC director was informed that he has called a report (Jan 2, 2025) from the assistant commissioner, Latifabad, and the same was being attached regarding Syed Peer Mohammad Shah, son of Anwar Shah, which was forwarded for perusal of P&DC.

The DC told the HDA director general that the said letter was forged and that the signature and stamps of ADC-I were fake. He said that the Latifabad AC had on Oct 17, 2025 reported that the survey No.10 of Deh Nareja was a valuable government land upon which several anti-encroachment operations had been carried out.

“It is also brought to your notice that certain housing schemes have been approved by concerned authorities based on fake and forged letters purportedly issued by ADC-I Hyderabad. These letters were never issued by this office and their use amounts to serious misrepresentation and fraud,” stated the DC.

He also mentioned that the matter was reported to the office of the HDA director general with complete details. However, no action had been taken so far and the “practice appeared to be continuing unchecked”.

He mentioned that approval of housing schemes on the basis of forged documents not only caused loss to the government but also seriously affected the interests of the general public that might be misled. “Such acts undermine credibility of government institutions and must be curbed at the earliest,” read the April 9 letter.

Before the DC’s correspondence, ADC-I Gada Soomro had also written to the HDA director general, informing him that certain housing schemes have been approved by the authorities concerned on the basis of fake / forged letters, purportedly issued by the officer. “These letters were never issued by me and their use amounts to serious misrepresentation and fraud,” said the ADC-I. He called for an inquiry and strict action against the culprits.

Earlier, ADC-I informed the regional director of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) on Nov 7, 2025 to seal the booking office of the housing scheme in Deh Nareja, taluka Latifabad, off Autobahn Road.

The Mukhtiarkar Latifabad had sent a detailed report to the ADC-I on Aug 8, 2025 regarding the matter, tracing the history of the piece of land from 1975.

Following the DC’s correspondence, HDA Director General Dr Afshan Rubab told Dawn that she had also requested the Local Government secretary to order an inquiry against the officials concerned to ascertain facts, fix responsibility and ensure appropriate disciplinary action.

She also stated that the layout plan of the scheme in question was already suspended following reports of forgery.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2026