With the Johar Town plot scam in the tenure of Lahore Development Authority Director General Abdul Jabbar Shaheen reaching its climax, the Anti-Corruption Department has launched an extensive probe to nab the officials inflicting financial damages to the authority and siphoning off million of rupees from innocent people. The department has sought all records and details of plots in various housing schemes in the areas under LDA. Directorate of Land Development (I) assistant directors have been assigned to provide all relevant record.
Initial investigation revealed that a number of LDA officials, apple of Shaheen’s eye, were involved in unlawful exemption of plots. A dual nationality holder highly-ranked official is also reported to have started flexing his muscles to go abroad in a bid to evade action against him. He had already narrowly escaped from being caught by National Accountability Court in a corruption case when there was a heated dispute on his long leave. However, after the situation calmed down, he returned and held a lucrative slot in LDA.
LDA granted exemption of plots on 296 files in Directorate of Land Development (I) during 2006 to 2008. Director of DLD (I) Syed Javaid Iqbal Bukhari during his tenure in 2008 decided to scrutinize exemption of plots which opened a Pandora’s Box. Record-keepers had not submitted the details of all files and even tried to alter 35 of them.
Meanwhile, after scrutinising 261 files, it was recommended that a 3-member committee of senior officials be constituted to investigate the issue and open up the files of Moza Ajodiyapur and Moza Niaz Baig. However, the issue was hushed up.
In the light of report prepared by Syed Javaid Iqbal Bukhari, Anti-Corruption Department has sought the relevant records of the files including JT-AP/3198, JT-AP/3192, JT-AP/3206, JT-AP/3200A, JT-AP/3194, JT-AP/3226, JT-AP/845 B,C,D,E, JT-AP,1850A, JT-AP/1039, JT-AP/2009A, JT-APN/133, JT-AP/1885A,B,C,D, JT-AP/3210, JT-AP/3208, JT-AP/3170, JT-AP/3200, JT-AP/3077A, JT-AP/3172, JT-AP/3065A, JT-AP/3174A, JT-AP/377A, JT-AP/1467&1468,JT-AP/1513, JT-AP/3153A,B, JT-AP/3154A,B, JT-AP/3211, JT-AP3212, JT-AP/3213A,B,C, JT-AP/3191, JT-AP/3188A, JT-AP/3096, JT-AP/3183, JT-AP/3199, JT-APN/3148, JT-APN/3187, JT-APN/3184, JT-APN3186, JT-AP/878, JT-AP/2076, JT-AP/3193,JT-AP/3182, JT-AP/3223, JT-AP/3181, JT-AP/3179, JT-AP/3207A, JT-AP/3189, JT-AP/3220, JT-AP/3221, JT-AP/3196, JT-AP/3190, TJ-AP/3170, JT-AP/3178, JT-AP/3180, JT-AP/3177, JT-AP/2531, JT-NB-2-1412A&B, JT-NB-2-1910B&C, JT-NB-2-1992, JT-NB-2-3462,JT-NB-2-3463, JT-NB-2-4252, JT-NB-2-1998,PUC FILE JT-NB-2-3398, PUC FILE JT-NB-2-3399, JT-NB-2-2707,JT-NB-2-2826, JT-NB-2-2151, JT-NB-2-3321 duplicate, JT-NB-2-1068, JT-NB-2-2838, JT-NB-2-3579, JT-NB-2-2222A, JT-NB-2-3459, JT-NB-2-6136A, JT-NB-2-5743, JT-NB-2-6148A&B, JT-NB-2-6149, JT-NB-2-5988, JT-NB-2-6104,JT-NB-2-5708,JT-NB-2-6125, JT-NB-2-6111,JT-NB-2-5756, JT-NB-2-5679A, JT-NB-2-6129/N, JT-NB-2-6133, JT-NB-2-6131A, JT-NB-2-6101A, JT-NB-2-6110A, JT-NB-2-6122A, JT-JP-39, JT-NB-2-5072, JT-NB-2-5320A, JT-NB-2-4818, JT-NB-2-4739 Duplicate,JT-NB-2-422A,B,C, JT-NB-2-4037A, JT-NB-2-5401A,JT-NB-2-5545A, JT-NB-2-4499A, JT-NB-2-4315, JT-NB-1-480A JT-NB-1-472, JT-BWL-23, JT-CM-179-1A, JT-CM-179-2, JT-CM-130, JT-NB-2-4863A, JT-NB-2-4014A, JT-NB-2-4833A, JT-NB-2-6130A, JT-NB-2-4982A, JT-CM-65, JT-NB-2-6020, JT-NB-2-6107,JT-NB-2-6108, JT-NB-2-6121, JT-NB-2-5968A, JT-NB-2-6146, JT-NB-2-5907, JT-NB-2-6062, JT-NB-2-5997C, JT-NB-2-5997G,G1,F,F1,JT-NB-2-5926, JT-NB-2-6096A, JT-NB-2-6135, JT-NB-2-6128, JT-NB-2-6144, JT-NB-2-5797, JT-NB-2-223E.
It may be recalled that recently LDA had also unveiled a scam of 526 plots worth billion of rupees in Johar Town. The plot scandal surfaced after CM Secretariat received an application that blew the lid of corruption in the LDA. The application laid bare the names of LDA highly-ranked official and his group cherishing strong links with the land mafia.
The application also carried the names of plot files that had been declared fake, a senior official in CM Secretariat told Pakistan Today. He said the LDA Directorate of Land Development (I) had launched investigations to detect scope of irregularities in 526 plots besides others located in Johar Town.
According to the application, a person who had got the file numbered JT-AP/35 cleared had died while those arrested in tampering of file number
JT-NB 2/ 302 in Moza Niaz Baig had been released.
Sources in the LDA revealed that the authority had already reported the loss of these files and had handed over 12 LDA officers to the police. Earlier the Anti-Corruption Establishing (ACS) raided LDA office in Johar Town last month and seized a number plots files which were found to be tampered and bogus. It also presaged arrests of top LDA officials allegedly involved in the scam. However, LDA Directorate of Land Development (I) Director Liaqat Ali Randhawa who was investigating the bogus files was transferred all of sudden which halted all investigation.
According to LDA official, ACS got information about a scam of tampering and misappropriating plot files and took various files worth billions of rupees in possession registers in a raid on at LDA Johar Town office. He said LDA Director (Admin) Khalid Pervaiz sent a reference to ACE’s Lahore Region Director Zulfiqar Ghuman sometime ago, stating that the junior clerk Tayyab Shaheen and former private secretary to director land development Muhammad Hanif had stolen four registers and seven files of many plots located in Johar Town and Ajodhiapur worth billions of rupees. The files were stolen from director land development’s office, he added.
On this Zulfiqar Ghuman tasked Deputy Director Dr Zafar Iqbal and Inspector Atif Tarrar to arrest the accused nominated by the complainant. The officials rounded up accused and later raided LDA’s Johar Town office and recovered the files kept hidden in the record room.
Lahore Development Authority (LDA) will sell out 48 residential and commercial plots of Venus Housing Scheme located at Ferozepur Road through open auction on November 1. According to official sources, the auction will be held under the supervision of LDA Auction Committee in a ceremony at LDA Community Centre in Ayubia Market Muslim Town at 10:00 am. This housing scheme is approved by the LDA and situated 2km away from the Lahore General Hospital and 1 km from Chungi Amarsidhu.
