ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) confirmed in a report submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), that senior minister in Punjab Aleem Khan encroached on government land to connect his Park View Housing Society to Kuri Road.
The report was filed on Saturday, which was earlier scheduled to be filed in December, after the IHC criticised the inordinate delay. In response to IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah’s directions, the CDA submitted the report.
The housing developer had claimed that they built a road on land that was allocated for this purpose, but the CDA’s report revealed that to be false, and also highlighted two senior bureaucrats who worked as CDA chairmen in the recent past.
The report said, “The developer was not in ownership of the gap between CDA land and project land.” Regarding the housing society’s claim that the road was already proposed by the CDA in its concept plan, the authority said that “this was only a concept plan for Kurri and not an approved layout of Kurri project. The authority’s report also said that the developer built a road on land not meant for this purpose, on the basis of which it received an NOC.
The authority admitted to its mistake in allowing Mr Khan to build the road in May 2018. “This decision of the CDA board of May 09, 2018, allowed the developer to fulfil the requirements of the conditions of no objection certificate (NOC).” There was no access road between Khan’s development and the main road, which is a requirement for an NOC. However, the CDA allowed the road to be built, thereby enabling it to qualify for the NOC.
The report added, “Had CDA not granted access through its land and taken up a concept plan road as an actual road, the condition could not have been fulfilled.” An NOC was later issued on the basis of the provision of this access road. Towards the end of 2018, the land on which the road was built was transferred to the CDA, the report said.
In an earlier hearing in this matter in November 2019, the IHC had asked the CDA to justify the permission granted to the housing society to utilise the acquired land and to “satisfy this court that it is not a case which ought to be referred to [the National Accountability Bureau] to be dealt with under National Accountability Ordinance 1999.”
Park View City was being developed in an inaccessible area, and according to CDA records permission to use the land was given to the society in June 2018 when Usman Akhtar Bajwa was CDA chairman. Furthermore, during the tenure of CDA chairman Afzal Lateef, permission to use the access road was also provided. The matter was pursued by the CDA planning wing, then headed by member planning Asad Mehboob Kayani, who has since retired. No one from CDA was in attendance during this latest hearing. Further hearing in this case has been adjourned until Aug 3.
