KARACHI: A recent campaign by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) against “illegal construction” and its claim of razing hundreds of such structures across the city over the past eight months were questioned by the Chief Minister Inspection Team (CMIT) that launched a probe on allegations of corruption in the authority’s demolition unit.

The CMIT had received complaints against demolition unit director Sajjad Khan and deputy director Ovais Hussain that they were leading the operation against illegal construction across the city for many years and allegedly misusing their positions to mint money.

In a letter addressed to the local government secretary, the CMIT referred to its initial findings which suggested that the two SBCA officials were enjoying strong position in the authority despite the fact that they were found guilty of wrongdoings.

It accused them of running an “organised racket of corruption since 2016” and to achieve their targets they took cover of different political parties during past eight years.

CMIT launches graft probe against two officials of demolition unit

“Sajjad Khan, Director Demolition and Ovais Hussain, Deputy Director, SBCA are running Patta System in district central Karachi. The chief secretary also directed the local government department to remove the above-named officers from SBCA. Such directives were also communicated through secretary local government vide letter No. RO(LG)/MISC/4(16)/2020 dated 3rd March 2020 but both are still working,” the letter said, adding that the officers were “running a system in SBCA since 2016 in the names of different political figures”.

The letter stated that inquires were initiated by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and anti-corruption establishment against both the officers, but to no avail.

During its initial probe, the CMIT also found that Mr Sajjad possessed a dual nationality and it mentioned his passport numbers of Pakistan and Canada.

The CM body sought reply from the LG secretary within a week to further pursue the inquiry against the SBCA officials.

Talking to Dawn, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on CMIT Senator Waqar Mehdi said his department moved on any complaint after completing its homework.

“Usually we complete an inquiry within two months and during this period, our team gathers every piece of evidence, physically visits the places which are under question and look into every possible angle that helps connecting the dots,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2024