ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior has summoned the National Police Foundation (NPF) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to brief on the alleged illegal allotment of plots and pending projects.
According to a letter from the Interior Ministry, the Managing Director of the NPF has been asked to brief the committee on “illegal allotment of plots in NPF housing schemes.”
The meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior will be held on January 6, 2025, under the chairmanship of Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz in Parliament House.
It is important to mention that the NPF has allegedly allotted six plots worth Rs100 million to six police officers, including former Interior Secretary Aftab Akbar Durrani and three Inspector Generals (IGs), for Rs1.57 million.
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A plot of one kanal was allotted to Additional IG Punjab Bilal Siddique Kamiana, who is currently posted as Capital City Police Officer (CCP)) Lahore, in Sector O-9 of the NPF scheme for Rs 500,000 where the market value of the plot was Rs 30 million.
The former Home Secretary, six police officers were allegedly allotted six plots worth Rs 100 million for Rs 1.57 million.
IG KP Akhtar Hayat Khan, IG Punjab Dr Usman Anwar, Sabir Ahmed, Managing Director NPF, Deputy Inspectors General Karim Khan and Syed Ali Mohsin each got a plot of one kanal in E-11, Islamabad.
These officers were allotted plots at fixed rates before 2000 when the market value of a plot of one kanal in E-11 was around Rs 1.5 million.
DIG Shahid Iqbal has approached the Islamabad District Court against the cancellation of his plot and subsequent allotment to NPF Director DIG Mohsin Ali. He argued in the petition that the NFP administration refused to restore his allotment.
Moreover, the plot was allotted to former Interior Secretary Mr. Durrani a few weeks before his retirement.
The former secretary issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) a few days before his retirement which gave more autonomy to the NPF as it changed the composition of its board which included eight directors of the foundation as members.
According to the previous SRO of the NPF, the board included the Interior Secretary, the Director General of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, KPK IGs, the Director General of Federal Security Force, and the Managing Director of the NPF.
The initial SRO of 1975 did not provide for an extension for MD NPF Sabir Ahmed, however, in SRO 2024, the former Home Secretary made the term extendable.
The SRO states, “The Managing Director shall be appointed by the Federal Government from among the serving Inspector General of Police on deputation for a period of three years, extendable for one more term.”
Interestingly, Ahmed’s term expired on December 24 and insiders claimed that he was seeking an extension for another three years based on these rules.
Apart from allotment of these residential plots, NPF also disposed of a prime commercial plot at a reduced price. The 5,000 sq. yards plot was allotted to a private firm, M/s SMB Limited, for Rs 1.08 billion.
The CDA had disposed of four very small plots for Rs7.7 billion through an open auction in January this year. The CDA auctioned two plots of 666.66 and 800 square yards in the I-8 Markaz for Rs1.14 billion and Rs1.46 billion respectively.
A plot of 533.33 square yards in the I-14 center (Rs1.225 million per square yard) was sold for Rs653 million and a blue area plot of 2666.66 square yards in the G-8 section fetched Rs4.53 billion. It was auctioned at Rs1.7 million per square yard.
According to the minutes of the meeting, the board approved the disposal of the plots through Sealed-Bid instead of an open auction. During the word meeting, KP Additional Inspector General Muhammad Ali Babakhel opposed the disposal of commercial land through sealed bids and stressed, “It would have been better if an open auction was held under the hammer instead of a sealed bid auction.”
Similarly, NPF Deputy Inspector General Muhammad Karim Khan Director Headquarters Admin was of the view that “the procedure laid down under the Islamabad Land Disposal Rules (ILDR) 2005 has not been followed.”
Another NPF official, SP Tanveer-ul-Hasan, in his dissent note raised several questions on the sealed bid and termed it against the rules and regulations applicable to the National Police Foundation.
“The method of sealed bid adopted for the auction of commercial plots is in conflict with the ILDR,’ he said.
He pointed out that Rule 9(1) of the NPF Rules states that “commercial plots in this scheme shall be disposed of through open auction to the general public to generate funds for the welfare of the beneficiaries.”
He also questioned why a multipurpose commercial plot was restricted to an IT sector company, citing “lack of competition and exclusion of other bidders/firms involved in the business.”
