ECP challenges civic agency’s authority
Demands its plot back; CDA says the plot will be relocated soon.
ISLAMABAD:
The Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) decision to relocate a plot allotted to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is “null and void”.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in a letter sent to CDA on Tuesday, said that they had found out that the CDA had cancelled the allotment of the plot in sector G-5/2. The ECP termed the cancellation decision as “null and void”.
The ECP wrote that “CDA has no right to cancel the Chief Election Commissioner’s plot” and demanded that its ownership be restored immediately. The commission wrote that as per agreement, CDA gave the plot’s possession to the election commission on September 29, 2010, after it paid Rs5,749,987 to the civic authority on June 25, 2010. The 1.5-kanal plot is located in the Judges Colony in sector G-5/2. “The CEC’s plot will be relocated to another location soon,” said CDA’s Director General (DG) Planning Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu. He said the plot needed to be relocated just as the Supreme Court’s lawyers’ plots were previously shifted from sector G-5/2 to Mauve in G-11/1.
The decision to relocate the plot was made after Supreme Court reportedly asked CDA to stop construction in the Judges Enclave in G-5-2 due to security concerns. A CDA official said they also cancelled the allotments of plots to other officials.
However, an ECP official said that after cancelling the plot, the CDA did not allot an alternate plot to the CEC. When CEC approached CDA, they were told that the plot could not be relocated due to “immense workload”, the official added. DG Planning Sindhu confirmed that the election commission had requested the civic body several times to provide an alternate plot to the CEC, “but I could not oblige them in time.”
The status of a CEC is no less than a Supreme Court judge, and “it is unfair, how he is being ignored by the CDA,” said Zulfiqar Bhutta, an advocate of the Supreme Court.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2011.
The Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) decision to relocate a plot allotted to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) is “null and void”.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), in a letter sent to CDA on Tuesday, said that they had found out that the CDA had cancelled the allotment of the plot in sector G-5/2. The ECP termed the cancellation decision as “null and void”.
The ECP wrote that “CDA has no right to cancel the Chief Election Commissioner’s plot” and demanded that its ownership be restored immediately. The commission wrote that as per agreement, CDA gave the plot’s possession to the election commission on September 29, 2010, after it paid Rs5,749,987 to the civic authority on June 25, 2010. The 1.5-kanal plot is located in the Judges Colony in sector G-5/2. “The CEC’s plot will be relocated to another location soon,” said CDA’s Director General (DG) Planning Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu. He said the plot needed to be relocated just as the Supreme Court’s lawyers’ plots were previously shifted from sector G-5/2 to Mauve in G-11/1.
The decision to relocate the plot was made after Supreme Court reportedly asked CDA to stop construction in the Judges Enclave in G-5-2 due to security concerns. A CDA official said they also cancelled the allotments of plots to other officials.
However, an ECP official said that after cancelling the plot, the CDA did not allot an alternate plot to the CEC. When CEC approached CDA, they were told that the plot could not be relocated due to “immense workload”, the official added. DG Planning Sindhu confirmed that the election commission had requested the civic body several times to provide an alternate plot to the CEC, “but I could not oblige them in time.”
The status of a CEC is no less than a Supreme Court judge, and “it is unfair, how he is being ignored by the CDA,” said Zulfiqar Bhutta, an advocate of the Supreme Court.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2011.