Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: After wasting six months, the city managers have changed the inquiry officers into a committee probing irregularities committed by Safa Gold Mall and the role of its officers, which will further delay the logical conclusion of this scam and the conviction of involved elements.

On Oct 7, 2016, soon after a day of the finalisation of the first formal inquiry in this case by a three-member committee headed by the then Member Engineering, Shahid Sohail, the incumbent Chairman CDA and Mayor of Islamabad, Shaikh Ansar Aziz, had turned down its findings and ordered another inquiry.

The concluded inquiry pointed out irregularities in the Safa Gold Mall project and recommended the removal of three additional storeys built in the mall.

It found two officials responsible for facilitating the violations: former building control deputy director, Malik Murtaza, and deputy director, Ammar Idrees, while two other officials nominated in the preliminary inquiry: former planning deputy director Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu and deputy director Ali Abdullah received a clean chit.

In 2010, the then CDA management auctioned Plot Number 5 at Jinnah Super Market, where its health directorate was once located. The allottee of the plot constructed Safa Gold Mall on the plot.

The mall owner has committed several violations with a helping hand of the CDA officers. He mainly constructed a ground plus seven storeys instead of the allowed ground plus four storeys.

“In the allotment letter, it was clearly defined that the Floor Area Ratio of the building would be 1:5 with 100 pc coverage and the number of storeys as Ground Plus four thus capping the height of building.

In no case, the number of storeys could be enhanced in violation of the relevant planning parameters and clauses of the allotment letter,” the inquiry report stated.

The report added that the building control unit issued an approval letter allowing a reduction in the size of the circulation area – thus increasing the number of storeys – without bringing the matter of post-bid changes to the notice of the CDA board.

The Mayor of Islamabad was of the view that the findings of the committee needed further investigations while insiders claim that the new inquiry was ordered because some of the officers involved were spared by the committee.

The committee to reinvestigate the matter comprised Director General HRD, Nadeem Akbar Malik, Director QS, Ijaz Siddqui and Deputy Director HRD, Chaudhry Nazeer, but the same has failed to proceed in the case.

Meanwhile, the owners of Safa Gold Mall approached the Islamabad High Court, where the CDA proposed a Rs 2 billion fine for the illegal construction, but the matter is still under litigation.

Now, the civic body has once again notified a new inquiry committee headed by the Member Estate of the CDA and Director Building Control Section II, Shahid Mehmood and a Deputy Director, Usman Rasheed Khan, as its members.

However, sources said the authority was looking non-serious in completing the inquiry as they believed this was a task of only a few days.

When contacted the spokesperson CDA, Mazhar Hussain, said: “The authority is fully committed to conclude all pending inquires and it is expected that soon the inquiry regarding the shopping mall would be finalised.”