ISLAMABAD: Like his predecessors, Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman and Islamabad mayor Sheikh Anser Azzi has failed to properly follow 39 high profile inquiries ordered by the judicial commission constituted by the Islamabad High Court in 2012.

The findings of most of the inquiries have been with the Prime Minister`s Office for around three years, while some of the inquiries are still in process.

In 2012, a judicial commission had pointed out several irregularities in CDA projects and recommended formal inquiries. Based on the recommendation, the government set up a number of committees to investigate dubious projects launched by the authorities, but no serious action has been taken in light of the inquiry reports.

When he was appointed acting chairman of the CDA, the mayor pledged to pursue the inquiries so exemplary action could be taken against corrupt officials in the CDA.

According to the authority`s documents, 21 out of the 39 inquiries had been completed by federal government officials as of Feb 2. Once complete, the inquiries were submitted to the CDA, which submitted them to the Prime Minister`s Office for `necessary action` The documents said that following the directives of the judicial commission, government officials looked into various dubious projects, including the construction of Monal Restaurant, the Diplomatic Shuttle Service project, Centaurus Mall, Grand Hyatt Hotel, allotment in Lake View Parl(, the double road leading to the Bahria Enclave, the Dubai Plaza plot, the Hillview Hotel and the cinema plot in G-9.

The Margalla Towers project, the allotment of Saidpur village, allotments of school plots, no-objection certificates granted to house societies, land surrendered to private housing societies, allotments in the Art and Craft Village, the I.J. Principal Road project from Faizabad to Pirwadhai and the Safa Gold Mall case are also among the 39 inquiries.

The committees began submitting reports to the CDA chairman in 2013, and sources said the then-CDA chairman Nadeem Hassan Asif forwarded the findings of a number of committees to the Cabinet Division and Prime Minister`s Office the same year to initiate proceedings against the officials involved. After Mr Asif`s transfer, successive authority chairmen did not seriously pursue the inquiries.

`Many higwigs are involved in the aforementioned cases, such as operators of housing societies, businessmen, CDA officers. In connivance with private individuals, including some politicians particularly in projects between 2008 and 2012, CDA officials embezzled billions of rupees,` a CDA officer said.

He said corrupt elements were revealed in many inquiries because of the judicial commission, but action was not taken against guilty officials.`The CDA says whenever action is recommended by the PM Office, then the authority will initiate action against guilty officials who are still enjoying their postings in the CDA,` he said.

Until recently, there was also a backlog of CDA`s own departmental inquiries, with over 100 such inquiries pending for years. However, Member Administration Yasir Pirzada has managed to have a number of inquiries completed over the last two months.

Mr Aziz could not be approached for comment on Sunday.

When contacted, CDA spokesperson Mazhar Hussain said he was not updated on the 39 aforementioned inquiries.

`I think the CDA forwarded many inquiries out of the total 39 to the PM Office a couple of years ago,` he said, adding that there has been significant improvement in pending inquiries.

`During the last two months we have managed to complete a number of inquiries,` he said. Mr Hussain said the member administration would hold a press conference soon on the progress in the pending inquiries.