ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Home Affairs has directed the National Police Foundation (NPF) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to organize a briefing for the Standing Committee on Home Affairs of the National Assembly on the alleged illegal allotment of plots and pending projects of the NPF.
According to a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the director general of the NPF was asked to inform the committee “about illegal allotments of land in NPF housing projects”.
It may be mentioned that the NPF has reportedly allotted six plots worth Rs 100 million each for Rs 1.57 million to former home secretary Aftab Akbar Durrani and six police officers, including three inspector generals (IG ).
A plot measuring one kanal was allotted to Additional IG Punjab Bilal Siddique Kamyana, currently posted as a police officer of the capital city Lahore, under the NPF scheme in sector O-9 for Rs 500,000, where the market price of the plot was 30 crores.
Six plots worth Rs 100 million each allegedly allocated for Rs 1.57 million to former Home Secretary and six police officers.
IG KP Akhtar Hayat Khan, IG Punjab Dr Usman Anwar, NPF Director General Sabir Ahmed, Deputy Inspector Generals Karim Khan and Syed Ali Mohsin each got a kanal plot in Islamabad’s E-11.
These officials were allotted the plots at rates fixed before the year 2000, when the market value of a kanal plot in E-11 was about Rs 1.5 crore.
Interestingly, an original successful bidder, former DIG Shahid Iqbal, has approached an Islamabad civil court against the cancellation of his plot and its subsequent assignment to NPF chief DIG Mohsin Ali.
He alleged in the petition that the NFP leadership refused to return his allowance.
Furthermore, former Home Secretary Mr Durrani was assigned the plot weeks before his retirement.
According to a document available with Dawn, the former secretary, a few days before his retirement, issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) that gave the NPF more autonomy by changing the composition of its board, including eight directors of the foundation as members.
According to the previous SRO of the NPF, the board consisted of Home Secretary, Director General of Federal Investigation Agency, IGs of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, KP, Director General of Federal Security Forces and Director general of the NPF.
There was no extension provision for the MD NPF in the initial 1975 SRO, however, the former Secretary of the Interior in the 2024 SRO made the term extendable.
It said: “The managing director shall be appointed by the federal government on deputation from among the serving inspectors general of police for a period of three years, extendable for another period.”
Interestingly, Sabir Ahmed’s term expired on December 24 and insiders claimed that he was seeking an extension for another three years on the basis of these rules.
In addition to the allotment of these residential lands, the NPF also disposed of prime commercial land at a throwaway price.
The 5,000 square meter plot was allotted to private company M/s SMB Limited for Rs 1,080 crore.
In January this year, the CDA had offloaded four much smaller plots for Rs 7,700 crore through an open auction.
The CDA auctioned two plots on I-8 Markaz measuring 666.66 and 800 sq yards for Rs 1.14 billion and Rs 1.46 billion respectively.
A plot of 533.33 sq yards on I-14 Markaz was sold for Rs 653 million (Rs 1.225 million per sq yard) and a Blue Area plot in G-8 part, measuring 2666.66 sq yards , was sold for 4.53 billion rupees. It was auctioned for Rs 1.7 million per square meter.
According to minutes of a meeting, the board approved the sale of the land through sealed bids rather than an open auction.
During the board meeting, KP Additional Inspector General Mohammad Ali Babakhel opposed the disposal of commercial land through sealed bids and urged: “It would have been better if an open hammer auction had been held instead of a sealed auction.”
Similarly, NPF Deputy Inspector General Headquarters Administrative Director Mohammad Karim Khan opined that “the procedure prescribed under the Islamabad Land Disposal Rules (ILDR) 2005 has not been followed.”
Another NPF SP official, Tanveerul Hassan, raised multiple questions on the sealed tender in his dissent note and termed it contrary to the regulations and rules applicable to the NPF.
It stated: “The sealed auction method adopted for commercial land auction is in conflict with ILDR.”
He noted that Rule 9(1) of the NPF Rules stipulates that “commercial plots in the scheme shall be disposed of by auction open to the general public to generate funds for the welfare of the beneficiaries.”
He also questioned why a multi-purpose commercial land was restricted for the company in the IT sector, which according to him “resulted in lack of competition and exclusion of other bidders/companies involved in the business.”
Published in Dawn, January 1, 2025
