KARACHI – The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday issued summon orders for the Sindh Chief Secretary, Cooperative Societies Secretary among others seeking explanation on a constitutional petition regarding corruption and mismanagement in different cooperative housing society schemes.
The SHC division bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar after hearing preliminary arguments by the petitioner issued notice to the respondents and directed them to submit their comments on the next hearing date.
The petition was filed by Human Rights Commission for South Asian (HRCSA) representatives Syed Iqbal Kazmi and Syed Muhammad Akhtar Naqvi, urging to restore the pervious status of Jafar-e-Tayyar Cooperative Housing Society, which was dissolved by the government authority.
Accusing the authorities of some cooperative societies, the petitioners submitted that several valuable plots were occupied in different areas of the metropolitan, but despite the fact that many cases were reported, no serious action was taken. They submitted that the Jafar-e-Tayyar society cabinet was dissolved illegally and a government official appointed as administrator to run the society’s affairs.
The cooperative credit society law was promulgated in 1904 aimed at providing loans to the small Hindu traders, as no financial supporting institutional was established in that era. But in 1912, then legislators had promulgated laws regarding establishment of societies, and such organisations were empowered to promulgate their own regulations to run their affairs.
After the partition of India, a large number of people came to Pakistan, and at that time 46 housing societies existed in Sindh, with 22 in Karachi, 23 in Hyderabad and one in Sukkur. Then government had allotted 1,400 acres land to the housing societies for facilitating the migrants to construct their homes. In 1973, legislators had promulgated the cooperative housing societies for the welfare of the people.
Mentioning a survey report conducted in 2009, the applicants submitted that 2,608 housing societies were registered across the country with 1.9 million associated members, while 13 million houses were established in such societies. “According to laws, all housing societies must be treated equally but some societies in particular are being provided many benefits,” they stated.
The said that the officers concerned declare some particular societies non-functional while adopting a biased approach. The petitioners stated that several cooperative societies’ officials were involved in corruption but inquiry reports of such cases have never been made public.
Citing the Sindh Chief Secretary, the Sindh Cooperative Housing Authority managing director, chairman, secretary and registrar, the Karachi Cooperative Housing Society, the Housing and Town Planning secretary, Malir Development Authority director general, Board of Revenue senior member, and Muhammad Ibrahim Qureshi as respondents, the plaintiffs pleaded that orders be issued for initiating probe in the irregularities.
