VEHARI, March 28: The local Municipal Committee has been suffering huge financial losses eversince the Vehari deputy commissioner allotted its 15.50-kanal tract on the Vehari Sherqi Colony illegally to one Siraj Asim in 1987.
Dawn learnt on Sunday that the value of the land was around Rs50 million. The building consists of three portions, TB clinic, residential quarters and ground.
Through a press publication in 1987, the MC auctioned the building known as ‘Old Building TB Clinic’.
Four bidders, through applications, offered monthly rent for the building. Muhammad Siraj Asim, Javed Iqbal, Chaudhry Khalid Siddiq and Chaudhry Jan Muhammad offered Rs1,500, Rs3,400, Rs4,500 and Rs7,000 per mensum, respectively. However, committee Chairman Zafar Iqbal accepted Mr Asim’s bid of Rs1,500.
Through an application, Mr Asim got injunction from the Vehari senior civil judge on July 23, 1987.
The corporation chairman said the status quo had been granted to Mr Asim in his favour and the building was in his possession. Therefore, he said, the man should be allowed to deposit the rent of Rs1,500 per mensum into the MC fund which was allowed after the report of legal advisor.
Further to his application, the bidder requested the MC chairman to allow him to deposit the rent through easy instalments. In response to a separate application on the re-fixation of rent, the MC chairman, after negotiation, fixed the rent of building by ignoring all the procedure of auction and handsome bids.
However, the committee took no action and the plea of status quo was confirmed by the civil court in favour of the applicant.
Later, an agreement between the chairman and Mr Asim was signed on a judicial paper on Feb 3, 1990, stating all terms and conditions.
Mr Asim set up a public school in the building. Meanwhile, he failed to deposit the monthly rent which kept accumulating in the shape of arrears. However, in another application, Asim claimed the school was running into losses. He requested the municipal administration that the arrears should be recovered Rs2,000 a month along with the monthly rent so that the arrears could be wiped out.
Mr Asim also corresponded to Vehari Deputy Commissioner Nadeem Ashraf. In response, the DC passed orders that the old TB building had been taken over by the provincial government and, therefore, the lease money for 1994 could not be claimed by the MC and it would go to the provincial government. He sought a detailed report from the MC regarding the arrears within 15 days.
The DC ordered MC administrator Nasir Javed Basra not to recover the rent along with the arrears from Asim and allotted the land to him for Rs200 per marla in Oct 15, 1994, when the audit department quashed all the records.
The MC functionaries failed to produced the orders of the provincial government regarding the allotment of the land to the committee except a photocopy of the Patwari Fard Jama Bandi form issued on May 15 1989, showing the land was owned by the provincial government.
Giving undue favour to the tenant, the DC allotted the land to Mr Asim without prior approval of the Punjab Board Of Revenue.
Mr Asim got the possession of the land and the orders of the deputy commissioner enabled him to move court against the government’s instructions.
Currently, the municipal committee has been suffering a loss of millions of rupees including monthly rent and cost of building.
A source in the MC said the committee’s taxation officer requested the administrator to file a writ petition against the orders of the board of revenue and DC’s directives but without result.
Local social circles have urged National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chief Lt-Gen Munir Hafeez to inquire into the matter without delay.