ISLAMABAD: A number of senior bureaucrats, including top police officers, have been allotted plots in the capital’s posh and luxurious E-11 sector at a price charged two decades ago, which is just 1.5pc of the existing market rate.

At present, the market value of one kanal plot in Sector E-11 is reportedly about Rs100 million. However, according to documents available with Dawn, the National Police Foundation (NPF) allotted six plots for Rs1.57 million each to a former interior secretary and six police officers, including three inspectors general of police (IGPs).

The documents reveal that IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Akhtar Hayat Khan, IG Punjab Dr Usman Anwar, Sabir Ahmed, incumbent NPF managing director and deputy inspectors general Karim Khan and Syed Ali Mohsin got one kanal plot each in Sector E-11.

These officials were allotted plots at a rate fixed prior to the year 2000 when the market value of a kanal plot in Sector E-11 was about Rs1.5 million.

NPF official says rules allowed management to cancel plots lying vacant for decades, allot them afresh at old price

Similarly, a plot measuring one kanal was allotted to additional IG Punjab Bilal Siddique Kamyana, currently posted as the capital city police officer, Lahore, in the NPF Scheme in Sector O-9 for Rs500,000 whereas the market price was Rs30 million.

NPF Managing Director Sabir Ahmed, when contacted, defended the move to allot the plots at old price, claiming that the allotment had been made in accordance with the policy of the foundation.

He explained that the NPF rules allowed the management to cancel a plot lying vacant in the society for decades and whose owners’ whereabouts were unknown. He said the owners of these seven plots were not in contact with the foundation for the last several years, therefore, the management cancelled them and allotted them to the “eligible officers” of the Police Service of Pakistan.

According to him, under the rules, the foundation could dispose of these plots at the same price at which they were previously allotted to the earlier allottees. He, however, said the plot of the original allottee might be restored, if he approached the foundation.

Interestingly, an original allottee, former DIG Shahid Iqbal, has approached the civil court of Islamabad as his plot was cancelled and subsequently allotted to NPF Director DIG Mohsin Ali.

He contended in the petition that the NPF management refused to restore his allotment. However, several police officers whom Dawn spoke to termed these allotments as ‘pick and choose’.

Former additional inspector general Saleemullah Khan, who served as the legal adviser in the NPF a few years ago, said he had applied for a plot in E-11 while he was in service but the foundation declined his request saying that there was no vacant plot. He alleged that the NPF, in order to compensate their blue-eyed, cancelled the plots of original allottees to re-allot them to the favourite officers.

Interestingly, former interior secretary Aftab Akbar Durrani was allotted the plot weeks before his retirement.

According to the document available with Dawn, a few days before his retirement, the former secretary issued the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) that gave the NPF more autonomy as it changed the composition of its board, including eight directors of the foundation as members.

As per the previous SRO of the NPF, the board comprised interior secretary, director general Federal Investigation Agency, inspectors general Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly known as NWFP; director general Federal Security Force and NPF managing director.

There was no provision of extension for the NPF managing director in the initial SRO of 1975, however, the former interior secretary in the SRO of 2024 made the term extendable.

It said: “The managing director shall be appointed by the federal government on deputation from amongst the serving inspector general of police for a period of three years, extendable for another term.”

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2024