Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Capital Development Authority (CDA) Member Estate Khushal Khan has failed to conclude a pending inquiry into the Safa Gold Mall case.

The owner of private shopping mall had constructed three extra floors and cinema halls on the top floor through an underhand settlement with several officials. It is the second such inquiry into the case.

The first inquiry had been conducted by a three-member committee, headed by the then Member Engineering Shahid Sohail. On October 7, 2016, CDA Chairman Shaikh Ansar Aziz had rejected its findings and ordered a new inquiry.

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

It had also found two officials responsible for facilitating the violations: former building control deputy director, Malik Murtaza, and deputy director, Ammar Idrees. Two other officials nominated in the preliminary inquiry –former planning deputy director Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu and deputy director Ali Abdullah — had received a clean chit. The committee formed to reinvestigate the matter comprised HRD Director General Nadeem Akbar Malik, QS Director Ijaz Siddqui and HRD Deputy Director Chaudhry Nazeer. However, the committee members were replaced with new ones on later stages.

According to the notification issued four months ago, the new inquiry committee is headed by the Member Estate CDA Khushal Khan. Director Building Control Section II Shahid Mehmood and Deputy Director Usman Rasheed Khan are its other members.

Official sources said that the delay in the conclusion of the CDA inquiry was meant to benefit the mall owner in the ongoing litigation.

“Continuous delay by Khan in the finalisation of this inquiry is weakening the stance of CDA in high court, where judges question what the civic body has done so far against its own officers involved in extending undue favours to the builder,” another officer of CDA Law Wing said.

“It is no secret that the officers inside the authority are favouring the owner of mega mall from day one for their personal gains. The delay in the finalisation of inquiry is also a favour,” another CDA officer said. In 2010, the then CDA management had auctioned Plot Number 5 at Jinnah Super Market, where its health directorate was once located. The allottee constructed Safa Gold Mall on the plot.

The mall owner committed several violations, including constructing seven storeys instead of the allowed four storeys. In the allotment letter, it was clearly defined that the floor area ratio of the building would be 1:5 with 100 percent coverage and the number of storeys would be ground plus four.

“Under no circumstances can the number of storeys be increased in violation of the relevant planning parameters and clauses of the allotment letter,” the initial inquiry report had said. Talking to Daily Times, Mayor Shaikh Ansar Aziz said that the inquiry would be completed soon. “I will take corrective measures to speed up the committee proceedings,” he said. When contacted, Member Estate Khushal Khan avoided clarifying his position and declined to comment on the matter.

Published in Daily Times, July 4^th , 2017.