CDA seeks forensic audit of eligibility certificates for land allotment.

ISLAMABAD -- The civic agency has requested the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) for conducting a forensic audit of eligibility certificates (ECs) issued by the CDA from 1960 to 1986 to people for allotment of land in colony districts of Punjab for their settlement in lieu of their land acquired in Islamabad.

Sources in the CDA said there were several reports about double benefits as many ECs holders later surrendered their ECs to get agro farms in Islamabad. Therefore, the CDA has decided to get a forensic audit of all the ECs done by the AGP.

An official of the CDA told Dawn that the Member Estate on Monday wrote a letter to the AGP office. The letter said: 'Initially, for the settlement of land acquisition for persons owing cultivated agriculture land only, the authority launched Rehabilitation Scheme in 1965. Also, the initial regulations came for issuing ECs in 1960. The scheme covered eight colony districts and barrage areas of Sindh. From 1961 until 1987, the authority issued 16137 ECs in 153 of 232 acquired mouzas to affected citizens in eight Punjab colony districts and two colony districts of Sindh province.'

The letter said many EC awardees surrendered the certificates and the CDA under clause 7(2) of Islamabad Displaced Persons Rehabilitation Policy 1996 cancelled the ECs and allotted the affected people residential plots/agro farms in Islamabad.

It said there had been maladministration and malfeasance cases where ECs were surrendered and rehabilitation benefits in the shape of agro farms/residential plots allotted. The letter said the ECs, which were surrendered in favour of CDA, were deemed to have been utilised and bogus/fabricated signatures of officials/officers of Punjab government.

The agriculture land was either allotted or already sold through private transactions, it said. Verifying the surrendered ECs has become a cumbersome...