'CDA chief does not own construction company'

A bench was hearing a case challenging the appointment of Shiekh Anser Aziz as the acting chairperson CDA

ISLAMABAD: Mayor and Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chief Shiekh Anser Aziz does not own, nor is the beneficiary of any construction company while his appointment as the head of the civic agency was lawful.

This was stated by Aziz’s counsel Tariq Mehmood Jhangiri before a single bench of the Islamabad High Court on Thursday. The bench, headed by Justice Athar Minhallah, was hearing a case filed by Farrukh Nawaz Bhatti through his counsel Husnain Ibrahim Kazmi, challenging the appointment of Aziz as the acting chairman of CDA.

During Thursday’s hearing, Jhangiri said that Aziz had been appointed as the acting chief of CDA by following the due process of law and that no CDA by-law was by-passed in the process.

Jhangiri argued that there was no law which stopped the capital’s mayor from being appointed as the head of the civic body.  “Aziz could hold the post of CDA chairman in accordance with the law,” he added. The counsel, while rejecting the allegations, told the bench that Aziz was neither owner of any construction company nor a beneficiary of any such company. He argued that appointment of Chairman CDA was the prerogative of the federal government and it was entertained by the government by following the due process of law.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2017.