Some officials in the land ministry are involved in the process for permanent lease of the three-acre lands covering plots (dag)No. 604/605/ 606/607 and 703/704/706 in Sadipur mouja near the Shahjalal Bridge, sources said.

Several proposals for setting up government establishments on the lands were cancelled by the authorities earlier.

At present, there is a proposal for setting up a divisional stadium there.

Earlier, a proposal for setting up Jalalabad Gas Housing Complex on the land was sent to the land ministry, but it was rejected. The ministry retained the land for government offices in future, sources said.

In 1993, the land ministry had approved a proposal to set up a truck terminal on part of the land. But, it was cancelled as the then Sylhet Pourashava failed to make the initial payment.

As per rule, approval from the Prime Minister's office is needed for leasing any land over three acres in any metropolitan city.

The sources claimed that the group has made a good progress in leasing the land, showing that some expatriates are members of the housing cooperative society.

In the petition, the chairman of the so-called cooperative society claimed that there are 240 expatriates in the society and that if the land is leased to them, they would play a vital role in investments in the country.

But interestingly, the housing society was not registered with the cooperative department when the application for lease was filed on July 2 last year, the sources said.

Citing documents, the sources said the group managed registration of the housing society 25 days after filing of the lease application.

The application only mentioned that there are 240 expatriates in the housing society, but no other details. Moreover, the application lacked details on layout of the land and mode of payment, either in foreign currency or local currency, the sources said.

Ignoring all these requirements, the lease application by the housing society has been approved by officials concerned and sent to higher authorities, the sources said.

The officials has also quoted a price of Tk 52,842 per decimal for lease of the land to the housing society, which is far less than its actual price.

Official records show that in 2001, the then Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet, considering commercial importance, had fixed the price of the adjoining land at Tk 80,648 per decimal.

The present price of land in the area is about Tk 7 lakh per decimal, the sources said.

Sources feel that, if the authorities need at all to sell the land it should be disposed of through open tender, so that a proper price is paid.