NAB to crack down on twin cities’ illegal housing societies

ISLAMABAD: After taking action against land grabbing in Sindh, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to crack down on illegal housing scandals in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, a senior official told The News on Thursday.
The Bureau has sought representation from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on action to be taken against illegal housing societies operating in the twin cities.
The NAB Rawalpindi region is already investigating dozens of illegal housing societies operating in the federal capital for allegedly cheating public at large.
The officials said strict action was being planned against the illegal housing societies and a committee had already been formed under the NAB’s Prevention and Awareness Directorate to monitor land grabbing related crimes.
When contacted, NAB spokesman Nawazish Ali Asim said the bureau had contacted the CDA and RDA as well as the representatives of housing societies, advertising agencies and other stakeholders to chalk out a strategy against the housing scams.
“We have asked the CDA and RDA to ensure that all the housing schemes in their respective jurisdiction should be functioning under the law and following all the related regulations so that thousands of innocent citizens could be protected,” he said.
He said the advertising agencies had also been asked to refuse misleading advertisement by illegal housing societies. The NAB spokesman said the CDA and RDA had also been asked to place the list of illegal housing societies on their website. He said the NAB’s prevention committee, constituted under Article 33 C of NAB Ordinance, will have representatives of regulatory bodies and housing society. The committee, he said, would form rules and regulations for allotment of plots and registration of housing societies. Recently, the bureau has taken cognizance of Mohafiz Housing society’s advertisement campaign and seized its record to examine it under the existing rules.