Probe into issuance of domiciles to non-residents begins.

LARKANA -- A three-member committee reached the deputy commissioner's (DC) office here on Thursday and began investigation into the alleged issuance of domicile certificates to non-residents of the district/province.

Constituted by Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah, the body led by Sindh Board of Revenue (BoR) senior member Qazi Shahid Pervez has been mandated to inspect and scrutinise the record of domicile certificates issued in various districts of Sindh, a notification said. Its members are Dr Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo, secretary of the services, general administration and coordination department, and Nazir Ahmed Qureshi, deputy director (PRC) of the BoR Sindh.

The committee members, along with the additional deputy commissioner-I, visited the domicile branch and got the statements of the staff concerned recorded.

Talking to reporters, Mr Pervez said the entire staff of the domicile branch in the DC office had been changed; competent and trusted officials from the Larkana commissioner's office were deputed to make the inquiry transparent.

A record of more than 21,000 domiciles issued in two years was taken into custody for scrutiny.

He said that initially 250 suspected domiciles were identified while one of them was confirmed fake. Prior to initiating the inquiry, the committee had set a criterion to check the papers of the suspected domiciles, he said, adding that the team members might go for field verification of the record.

If required, the record could be verified from other provinces to...