ISLAMABAD – The federal government has established a high-level committee to review the legal status and regulatory framework regarding sale and purchase of properties, including plots and apartments, on files.

This committee has been formed in response to growing concerns over fraud, tax evasion, and the protection of investors within the real estate sector.

The committee, which will be led by the Minister for Law and Justice, will include several key stakeholders. These include the chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), senior members from provincial Boards of Revenue, a senior official from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad Capital Territory, and a representative from the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD). The FBR will provide secretarial assistance to the committee.

Legal Status of Property Files!

The committee’s primary task will be to assess the operational procedures and legal status of the property file system. It will also analyze the impact of the real estate business on federal and provincial revenues. The committee will particularly focus on safeguarding the rights of file holders and buyers, investigating allegations of fraud, including the issuance of fake or duplicate files, and cases of repeated sales of the same property.

As part of its terms of reference, the committee is expected to recommend necessary amendments to laws in order to bring the buying and selling of property files under a transparent and legally regulated framework.

The committee has been given one month to submit its report to the government.

This initiative follows the revelation of a large housing scam in which private housing schemes in Islamabad and Rawalpindi allegedly sold over 90,000 plots without acquiring land, collecting billions of rupees from investors.