Aziz said that a comprehensive strategy had been evolved to establish more grounds in sectors. PHOTO: INP
In compliance with orders of the Supreme Court, and a September verdict of the Islamabad High Court which cleared the CDA to take action against buildings which were not conforming to the rules, the authority said its Building Control Section (BCS) had sealed 376 buildings in the capital till December 6.
According to a CDA document, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, there are 591 nonconforming properties in the capital. This is down from 1,695 which the court was told earlier in the year.
CDA records show that there are 359 schools, 96 guest houses, 60 hostels, 32 offices of various professionals, 23 clinics, 12 media houses, and nine chambers of lawyers which are still operating in residential areas.
Furthermore, around 44 diplomatic missions, envoys were using buildings in residential areas.
“CDA has taken up the case of diplomatic missions with the ministry of foreign affairs to shift them from the residential areas,” an official in CDA’s building control section told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.
As a warning to violators, the CDA had taken action against 10 guest houses and 27 hostels on October 26 and thereafter. The civic body had also imposed fines worth Rs269.7 million and cancelled the allotments of 15 nonconformers. The BCS had also sealed 50 houses including hostels, guest houses, real estate offices, beauty parlours and NGOs.
Stopped by an injunction
As has been the case every time CDA tries to take action against violators, nonconformers manage to get an injunction from the court.
With schools operating in residential areas making up the largest chunk of nonconformers, when the CDA started taking action against them, the Private Schools Association of Islamabad filed a case in court and managed to obtain a stay order.
Similarly, students and the National Commission for Human Rights have approached the court and obtained a stay order to maintain the status quo to not harass students residing in houses and hostels till further orders.
Govt guilty too
It is not just private businesses who have been violating CDA’s by-laws. According to the authority’s data, at least nine government offices are still operating in residential houses
Of the government offices which were still not conforming, eight are allied departments of the Ministry of Defence in Sectors G-11/2, G-11/3, F-10/1 and F-10/4. The ministry, however, has sought some time from CDA to move its sensitive equipment out of these areas into dedicated offices.
Meanwhile, the SAARC Arbitration office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also operating out of a residential building in Sector F-10/1.
Big fish undisturbed
While CDA has been taking action against small-time guest houses, hostels, schools, beauty parlors and NGOs, the authority has failed to even include some prominent violators.
The CDA report omits a supermarket in Sector G-6 which is owned by a Senator. The supermarket is operating in a building which is meant to be a marriage hall.
Similarly, the head office of the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO) is still in Sector G-7/4, on a plot meant for a school.
The Federal Urdu University in Sector G-7/1 continues to operate on a plot which had been allotted to the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). A hotel operates on land which was meant to have a hostel for the Islamabad Bar Association,
A rest point in Sector G-9/4 has been converted into a marriage hall while a university continues to operate on land allotted for a hospital in the capital.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2016.
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