CDA told to file complete records, interior ministry directed to submit report. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
Justice Athar Minallah ordered the CDA to produce complete record of the completion certificates after 38 affectees of the One Constitution Avenue case drew the court’s attention to the fact that thousands of apartment owners in the capital could only be recognised as ‘squatters’, ‘trespassers’ or ‘illegal occupants’ since they did not have completion certificates.
Meanwhile, Justice Minallah also ordered the Interior Ministry to submit a detailed report on the matter since the petitioners claimed that some of the leading buildings in the capital “have not obtained the mandatory completion certificate and yet admittedly have been illegally occupied”.
Notices were also issued to the CDA chairman and the Attorney General for Pakistan for the next hearing since the matter was not just limited to the grievance of petitioners but was of one of non-performance of CDA’s statutory duties.
The directions came after purchasers of apartments in the under-construction One Constitution Avenue building - meant for the Grand Hyatt Hotel - approached the court seeking directions for CDA to act without discrimination and with immediate effect against all illegally constructed and occupied buildings in the capital.
The petitioners, through their counsel Ali Raza, urged the court to direct the civic body to fulfil its statutory obligation without fear and favour to anyone, to cancel forthwith utility services to buildings to whom completion certificates and occupancy rights had not been issued.
On March 3, Justice Minallah had dismissed all petitions challenging CDA’s move to cancel the lease of the One Constitution Avenue, upholding the civic agency’s July 2016 decision on the matter.
The petitioners have named the CDA and the Capital Administration Development Division as respondents in the case. In the petition, Raza said that CDA had failed to perform its statutory functions and was acting in a malafide and discriminatory manner by failing to act against admitted illegalities committed by numerous buildings and their developers in the capital.
Raza argued that in the absence of a completion certificate, a building can neither be occupied nor can anyone acquire a right or title as held by the court in its Judgment of March 3. He contended that CDA has “admittedly not issued completion certificates to hundreds of commercial and residential buildings in Islamabad.”
Hence, CDA is required to act in accordance with law and seal other buildings to ensure they are not illegally occupied and take necessary action. Claiming that the Margalla Towers in F-10, which collapsed during the 2005 earthquake, “was never issued a completion certificate” by CDA, he presented a list of 18 other buildings which had not been issued completion certificates.
“It is only after the issuance of a completion certificate that a building is deemed duly completed and, hence, capable of occupancy and further transfer of rights therein, including the bifurcation and recording of the division of floor space in multi-storeyed buildings.”
The court will now take up the case on April 7.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2017.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ