Saadia Salahuddin replied on Sunday, June 20, 2010 05:43 PM
This article was published in the news paper named "The News"
fraud
Land not there
Story of a man who gets fleeced in his bid to acquire some land. He goes to every avenue possible to get justice in this country but is still waiting for it
By Saadia Salahuddin
In March a cheque of Rs 815,625 bounced thrice at Bank AL Habib Limited, Peco Road branch, for lack of money in the account. The cheque number was 3334389. It was issued by chairman and director of Formanites Housing Scheme (FHS) whose office is in 8-Tipu Block, New Garden Town, Lahore.
These are the facts from an FIR No 117/08 dated 7.4.08 lodged with Lahore's New Anarkali Police Station. Behind the facts is a long story.
Muhammad Saleem, his brothers and friends bought 39 plots of 5 marla each and one plot of 10 marla in FHS at Kamaha Road which leads to Bedian Road, in 2005. When they had paid around 38 lakh, they asked the sellers to show them the land but they were told they will be shown the land once the development work is complete. The buyers made the request thrice but the sellers kept postponing their request, arousing suspicion among the buyers.
Saleem wrote a letter to Lahore Development Authority (LDA) for verification of the plots for which he, his family and friends had already paid Rs. 37,92,500 but were not being shown the site. The allotment letter issued by the FHS said the plots were in Q-Block, Phase II of the scheme. The LDA responded that there was no Q-Block in Phase II of FHS in a reply dated 19-07-06. This meant that the plots sold to Saleem, his brothers and friends were bogus. In a letter dated the LDA passed only 1191 kanal land of FHS in which there were only 126 plots of 5 marla each. The map Saleem received from LDA was different from the one on display at the scheme office and the two are different from the one approved by the LDA.
Upon receiving this reply from LDA, Saleem and friends asked the housing society to reimburse the amount they had paid. By then the office of the housing society had shifted from from 5-Tipu Block to 8-Tipu Block, New Garden Town, Lahore.
For months Saleem could not reach the owners of the scheme who did not give him time or receive his calls. One day Saleem received a message from director FHS who is also Nazim Union Council 117 to return ten files at a time and get the money back. The cheque he got was after deduction of 40 per cent of the amount. Ten files cost Rs 650,000 but the cheque that Saleem got was for Rs 4,06,250. The Scheme office said the payment will be made like this. This was not acceptable to Saleem, his brothers and their friends. They approached the then MNA Farid Saleem Paracha for help who hails from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Farid wrote a letter to the director FHS asking him to return the money immediately without any deduction but he didn't pay heed.
Saleem then wrote a letter to Amir JI, Qazi Hussain Ahmed for recovery of the money because the director of FHS belongs to JI. By now, one year and eight months had passed since the scheme owners had been using this money. Saleem, his family and friends demanded that the entire amount be returned with mark-up which would be Rs 42,42,500. They demanded from the JI Amir to take legal action against the 'cheats' because they were bringing bad name to the JI.
The JI wrote a letter to the chairman of FHS asking him to reply in writing about the allegation of fraud.
The aggrieved then wrote a letter to the then chief minister, Pervez Elahi. At the CM house, this letter was marked to the secretary local government who marked it to the zila nazim who marked it to the DCO.
"The DCO holds open kutchehry. He gave the director one week's time to return the money. Three dates came and passed but he did not appear. The DCO warned his lawyers that the scheme office will be sealed and the owners arrested if he did not appear on the next hearing. The next date also went without his presence. The DCO, after hearing all the cases which were more than 20, told us to come next week because he had to go to a meeting," says Saleem.
The accused were not arrested nor the scheme sealed.
"The scene changed on the next hearing. The director FHS was there with five lawyers. When everybody had gone, the DCO asked the director what complaint did he have against us? He said, we were not paying the instalments of the plots. The DCO scolded us for not paying the instalments. We were snubbed and not allowed to speak or show the documents -- dumbfounded at the turn the case had taken," Saleem goes on to say.
"The DCO asked the director to reimburse our money after 15 per cent deduction. Our friends said we should accept this payment. We were asked to submit all the files. The meeting ended."
"We submitted 20 files at one time and ten at another but did not get any cheque then. We demanded the money from the scheme staff reminding them of the DCO's decision at which they said: 'Then go and get the money from the DCO'," Saleem goes on to tell about the torture he has been going through in search of justice.
"We went to the DCO and complained about the treatment. He said, 'I have given the decision. Did you ask me before purchasing the files?' We asked the DCO to give his decision in writing which took him one month. We took this decision No H10/6129 Dt 16-04-07 to the scheme office. The staff at the scheme office threw the decision into the waste paper basket and told us to go to the DCO to get money. We felt absolutely robbed. The files were gone. We had nothing in hand. We felt lost.
"We again approached JI head office at Mansoora. They also said: 'Now you go to the DCO to get your money, why have you come to us.' It was very disheartening. I talked to the shopkeepers around me. There were people among them who were associated with the JI. Then I went to the CM secretariat, then secretary local government but nothing happened."
Saleem then wrote a letter to Supreme Court of Pakistan and to the President of Pakistan and sent it with complete documents. The Aiwan-e-Sadr marked Saleem's application to the DCO when Saleem had requested the president to hold an independent inquiry into the case as he did not get justice from any of the authorities he went to.
The Supreme Court called for a report from the registrar Cooperatives and the LDA. The Supreme Court (SC) sent Saleem a letter HRC No.2758/2007 with LDA's reply to the SC in this case. It said, "In the said approved scheme as alleged by the applicant/complainant there is no 'Q' Block."
Director General LDA said in this reply to the SC that "before purchasing plots in private housing schemes, the buyers should contact LDA to verify, amongst others the status of the scheme and plot sought to be purchased."
That the apex court did not take any action beyond asking for these reports, particularly grieved Saleem.
"Thereafter we got post-dated cheques of small amount. Only the last cheque was for Rs 815,625 which bounced every time we submitted it for encashment. Now its date has expired."
In two years Saleem went to every forum possible for justice in this country. "The extremely sad part is that nobody asked the director of the housing society how he could do what he was doing," says Saleem. "The JI partymen had said they would kick him out of the party but he was awarded ticket for MNA and MPA in this election instead. It is a different matter that the party announced not to participate in the elections."
If people come to return files at the scheme office they are told the file is 'do number' meaning not genuine (fake). If a person does not pay an installment, he is marked as defaulter and his membership is cancelled. Millions of people may have been robbed by such societies whose newsletters carry photographs of people in power, giving the simple, believing, common man the idea that the scheme is a safe investment.
Is this how real estate business has bloomed in the big cities of this country? This story makes one ponder.
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2008-weekly/nos-/enc.htm |
