Court issues contempt notices to CDA officials

Civic agency officials say some land grabbers wanted to build a college without meeting minimum requirements

ISLAMABAD: Some residents have gone to court against the Capital Development Authority (CDA), claiming that an operation which the civic body conducted a few days ago over allegedly illegally occupied land near Margalla Town-II was in violation of court orders.

After reviewing the petition, filed by Zubair Malik, Civil Judge East Omer Bashir issued notices to the CDA officials and asked them to appear before the court on July 7, 2017.



One June 8, 2017, The same court had directed the parties to maintain status quo on the land till the court heard the case on June 19. However just a day before the hearing was due to be held, the CDA launched an operation retrieving around 300 kanals of land to the west of Margalla Town-II from locals who were allegedly building a housing society.

A CDA official told The Express Tribune that they had told the court that the land was owned by the civic agency and the right of way was for the Korang nullah. He added that the interior minister too had taken up the issue while the authority had also initiated action against officials in the CDA’s environmental wing including two foresters, one range officer and a forest guard for were supporting locals in grabbing CDA land.

“A day before yesterday we went on site than we found that a 10-feet-wide road and 400-feet-long road was being constructed to link the proposed Qamar Town to the south of Margalla Town,” CDA Deputy Director Abdul Haq Brohi said, adding that the land grabbers actually wanted to build a college at the site which did not meet the basic requirements of a 100-feet-wide access road.

On the contrary, former inspector general of police Tahir Alam Khan, who owns some property there, said that residents have filed a contempt of court case and that the court had served the CDA with notices. He added that the CDA had violated court orders and locals called the police after CDA’s operation and that police could lodge an FIR against CDA officials.



“Yes we want to construct a college spread over 10 kanals and land owners fulfilled all requirements of CDA for obtaining an NOC,” Khan said, adding that the matter had been decided in a CDA Board meeting which was deferred and blamed CDA officials who were allegedly demanding bribes worth millions for legal work.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2017.