One Constitution Avenue: Lease cancellation shatters confidence of overseas Pakistanis
Flat buyers say they are victims of ‘negligence and fraud’
Flat buyers say they are victims of ‘negligence and fraud’. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
For overseas Pakistanis buying flats in the One Constitution Avenue, they had never imagined that a mega project - which was being built in full view of the Presidency, Prime Minister Secretariat, Supreme Court and the country’s top political and administrative decision-makers - could possibly be illegal.
For the 79 overseas Pakistanis and their families, who had bought into the OCA project, the cancellation of lease for the project had “shattered” their confidence in investing in their homeland.
One Constitution Avenue case: Flats built, sold were illegal
The reaction came after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier in March dismissed all petitions and upheld a July 2016 decision by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to cancel the lease of the project for using the under-construction building for a purpose other than which it had stated to be used for.
“Overseas Pakistanis are being sent a strong message not to invest in Pakistan. Is this the way in which we want to create the next ‘Asian Tiger’ as the Vision 2025 of Pakistan declares,” asked Dr Ismara Khan, who lives in Denmark and had invested in the project.
Some overseas Pakistanis who had bought flats in the project including Ehsan Mani, Raja Adil Bashir from England, Zehra Aftab and Ayesha Chaudhri from Saudia Arabia, Ahsan Azim from Canada, Tahira Paracha, Patricia Rymer, Rehman Dhillon, Abid Rizavi, Jahangir Khan and Carmen Estrada from the USA, Rabya Nizam from Belgium and Yaser Mirza from Australia, have expressed grave concerns over losing their flats.
The investors, while urging the government to safeguard their investments and restore trust and faith in their homeland, said that overseas Pakistanis are major contributors to the economy, sending remittances of around $19 billion in 2016 alone.
One Constitution Avenue case: Flats booked by who’s who of Pakistan
“We have laboured in foreign countries, faced adversities to support our families back home,” said Rizavi, adding “we are ordinary law abiding and taxpaying citizens” who had saved money after working for many years.
The overseas Pakistanis said that they had invested their savings in the project in good faith but the cancellation of the lease for the building by the CDA – subsequently upheld by the IHC –meant that they were victims of ‘negligence and fraud.’
IHC’s Justice Athar Minallah’s March 3 judgment stated that “the 240 purchasers in this case have been robbed of their hard earned savings solely due to regulatory failure and negligence of the CDA and the Government as well.”
In the verdict, the court had held that the CDA, the BNP group and the federal government had blatantly violated laws since neither the civic agency nor the government could justify its regulatory failure and negligence in allowing BNP to illegally sell flats.
The court had further observed that those who bought the flats would not have been ensnared had the federal government and the CDA not been negligent or complicit. It is, therefore, the duty of the federal government to ensure that the purchasers do not suffer due to their wrongful actions and omissions, particularly when the regulatory failure of the CDA stands admitted.
One Constitution Avenue case: Apartment holders want lease renewed
Noting that the judgement had directed the government and CDA to pay compensation to flat purchasers, the overseas Pakistanis expressed fear that it could be years before they manage to navigate the wilderness of bureaucratic tangles while it is determined who will pay, how much would be paid and when the government coffers would have sufficient resources to make such payments.
Chaudhri asked whether there was any formula which could compensate her for her money and time.
Mani, the former president and chairman of the International Cricket Council, said that “it is lamentable that our investments in our homeland are not secure.”
The purchasers said that developments in the case have “sent a clear signal to Overseas Pakistanis and foreign investors to steer clear of investing in Pakistan.”
“[On one hand] we are encouraged to invest our hard-earned money back home while the government is unable to provide protection against irregularities caused by its own authorities,” lamented Dabeer Rasul, another affected.
The affected flat buyers have already filed an Intra-Court Appeal against the IHC’s decision while a separate petition seeking the court’s intervention for CDA to act without discrimination and immediately against all illegally constructed and occupied buildings in the capital is being heard.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2017.
For overseas Pakistanis buying flats in the One Constitution Avenue, they had never imagined that a mega project - which was being built in full view of the Presidency, Prime Minister Secretariat, Supreme Court and the country’s top political and administrative decision-makers - could possibly be illegal.
For the 79 overseas Pakistanis and their families, who had bought into the OCA project, the cancellation of lease for the project had “shattered” their confidence in investing in their homeland.
One Constitution Avenue case: Flats built, sold were illegal
The reaction came after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier in March dismissed all petitions and upheld a July 2016 decision by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to cancel the lease of the project for using the under-construction building for a purpose other than which it had stated to be used for.
“Overseas Pakistanis are being sent a strong message not to invest in Pakistan. Is this the way in which we want to create the next ‘Asian Tiger’ as the Vision 2025 of Pakistan declares,” asked Dr Ismara Khan, who lives in Denmark and had invested in the project.
Some overseas Pakistanis who had bought flats in the project including Ehsan Mani, Raja Adil Bashir from England, Zehra Aftab and Ayesha Chaudhri from Saudia Arabia, Ahsan Azim from Canada, Tahira Paracha, Patricia Rymer, Rehman Dhillon, Abid Rizavi, Jahangir Khan and Carmen Estrada from the USA, Rabya Nizam from Belgium and Yaser Mirza from Australia, have expressed grave concerns over losing their flats.
The investors, while urging the government to safeguard their investments and restore trust and faith in their homeland, said that overseas Pakistanis are major contributors to the economy, sending remittances of around $19 billion in 2016 alone.
One Constitution Avenue case: Flats booked by who’s who of Pakistan
“We have laboured in foreign countries, faced adversities to support our families back home,” said Rizavi, adding “we are ordinary law abiding and taxpaying citizens” who had saved money after working for many years.
The overseas Pakistanis said that they had invested their savings in the project in good faith but the cancellation of the lease for the building by the CDA – subsequently upheld by the IHC –meant that they were victims of ‘negligence and fraud.’
IHC’s Justice Athar Minallah’s March 3 judgment stated that “the 240 purchasers in this case have been robbed of their hard earned savings solely due to regulatory failure and negligence of the CDA and the Government as well.”
In the verdict, the court had held that the CDA, the BNP group and the federal government had blatantly violated laws since neither the civic agency nor the government could justify its regulatory failure and negligence in allowing BNP to illegally sell flats.
The court had further observed that those who bought the flats would not have been ensnared had the federal government and the CDA not been negligent or complicit. It is, therefore, the duty of the federal government to ensure that the purchasers do not suffer due to their wrongful actions and omissions, particularly when the regulatory failure of the CDA stands admitted.
One Constitution Avenue case: Apartment holders want lease renewed
Noting that the judgement had directed the government and CDA to pay compensation to flat purchasers, the overseas Pakistanis expressed fear that it could be years before they manage to navigate the wilderness of bureaucratic tangles while it is determined who will pay, how much would be paid and when the government coffers would have sufficient resources to make such payments.
Chaudhri asked whether there was any formula which could compensate her for her money and time.
Mani, the former president and chairman of the International Cricket Council, said that “it is lamentable that our investments in our homeland are not secure.”
The purchasers said that developments in the case have “sent a clear signal to Overseas Pakistanis and foreign investors to steer clear of investing in Pakistan.”
“[On one hand] we are encouraged to invest our hard-earned money back home while the government is unable to provide protection against irregularities caused by its own authorities,” lamented Dabeer Rasul, another affected.
The affected flat buyers have already filed an Intra-Court Appeal against the IHC’s decision while a separate petition seeking the court’s intervention for CDA to act without discrimination and immediately against all illegally constructed and occupied buildings in the capital is being heard.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2017.