HYDRABAD:
The former director general of the Sehwan Development Authority (SDA) has come under scrutiny for allegedly auctioning a substantial amenity plot in Jamshoro district without obtaining approval from the SDA’s governing body and without considering the applicant’s qualifications.
According to sources, the unauthorised auction of a 5,324-square-yard plot, situated on a main road, was revealed in a statement submitted by an SDA officer in a subordinate court in Jamshoro on Monday.
“The auction in question was conducted between January 24 and 26, 2021, to dispose of commercial and residential plots in SDA’s Gulshan-e-Shahbaz housing scheme,” stated Assistant Director Auction Muzaffar Ali Kharal, representing the DG, Deputy Director Land Management, and Director of Planning and Development Control of the SDA.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior SDA officer informed The Express Tribune that former DG Munir Soomro had auctioned six amenity plots in January 2021, but failed to obtain approval from the governing body for these plots.
Meanwhile, a federal government employee, Ship Repair Division Deputy General Manager Mumtaz Ali Soomro, the claimant of the plot in question, filed a petition in court in December 2022, asserting that he acquired the plot through a successful bid and paid Rs2 million to the authority on February 1, 2021.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2023.
