PESHAWAR, April 13: An investigation officer deposed before an accountability court on Saturday that successive chief ministers in the NWFP had allotted plots to different people from their discretionary quotas.

The investigation officer, Qazi Hameed, who was recording his statement in a reference against former NWFP chief minister Aftab Sherpao about illegal allotment of plots in Hayatabad Township, stated that Mr Sherpao was not the only chief minister who had exercised the powers of allotting plots in his discretion.

He claimed that various chief ministers had allotted plots in Hayatabad Township, and added that the criterion for allotment of plots was that the person acquiring it should be a citizen of Pakistan, he had not acquired any other plot and he should pay the price mentioned in the brochure concerned.

In the present case, he said, the people to whom plots had been allotted fulfilled the criteria.

During cross-examination on Saturday, Mr Hameed stated that it was correct that the allotment of plots by the chief ministers through exercising their discretionary powers was not illegal.

The court, presided over by Said Maroof Khan, adjourned the hearing after recording his evidence and fixed April 19 for recording the statement of the accused.

In the instant reference former secretary of housing and physical planning, Jawed Alam Khanzada, was the prime accused, who was released after his plea-bargain had been accepted by the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau.

A co-accused, Zahir Shah, who is the former director-general of the Peshawar Development  Authority, was convicted, but was only fined by the trial court. His appeal is pending before the high court.

As Mr Sherpao was absconding at that time, he could not be tried and a supplementary reference was filed against him after he was apprehended on his return to Peshawar from the UK. In this case, plots were allotted to two persons, who later on transferred them in the names of Khanzada’s sons.

Another reference against him pertaining to the Ring Road land acquisition scam would also be taken up on April 19.