Commercialisation of amenity plot, SC gives time to negotiate

Industrialists told to implement recommendations on curbing effluents

ISLAMABAD: The top civic agency on Tuesday was slammed for rampant lawlessness in every case it comes up as it granted additional time to all parties involved in building a plaza on land reserved for a swimming pool.

The comments came as a five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC), led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, heard the case.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the additional attorney general reminded the court that at its last hearing, three people had been summoned by the court while a committee formulated by the SC had finalised its recommendations.

Meanwhile, the counsel for the plaza’s owner said that he had requested that two shopkeepers be provided shops at the rates determined in 2016. The counsel for the tenants, however, contended that the shopkeepers were willing to pay for a 100 per cent increase in the rents but some officers of the capital development authority (CDA) were demanding an even more money.

After hearing these arguments, the CJP remarked that while the shopkeepers had no right to make such demands, but the court was sympathetic to their cause and was thus allowing them back into the plaza.

If that is not acceptable, then you should file a case before the trial court to retrieve your pagdi (an archaic rental system where a property is given out on nominal rent after an advance equal to about sale consideration is deposited), CJP Nisar remarked, adding that the court will not tolerate tantrums of tenants.

The counsel for the tenants said that it was difficult for shopkeepers to pay advance rent for five years, to which the CJP replied that they can pay advance rent for a year but then the rent will be raised on an annual basis.

The rent was fixed at Rs240 per square feet.



In the second issue of the case relating to the commercialisation of the second floor of the plaza, CJP Nisar remarked that regardless of which case relating to the CDA they hear, the name of former chairman Kamran Lashari keeps popping up and that each case shows a sense of extreme lawlessness.

“I am considering whether I should send all the cases to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB),” he remarked, adding that those properties have been commercialised which could not be used for commercial purposes.

CDA official Ghulam Sarwar Sindhu tried to explain that in 1999, the CDA Board had decided to grant permission to construct a single storey plaza.

At this, the CJP lashed out calling the lot of CDA officials as dishonest.

“Who allowed the commercialization of this plot?” he asked,

Sindhu tried to explain that the plot was never commercialised.

This further aggravated the top judge who asked then how was a plaza built on the plot and what action had the CDA taken against this.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that if the CDA’s board had given approval for the construction of the plaza, then action should be taken against all of its members since the board does not have unlimited powers.

The CJP said that the matter should be taken up by NAB and summoned officers of the top anti-corruption watchdog.

A former CDA chairman appeared before the court and explained that he did not have anything to do with this specific case and that the plaza had been approved by CDA Member Estate. He added that the court can decide whether to approve it or demolish it. The CJP remarked that while they may not order the destruction of the second floor of the plaza, the may be asked to CDA take it over.

The additional attorney general told the court that the plaza’s owners had deposited Rs7.3 million as commercialisation fees for the building. However, per current CDA rates for commercialisation, the fee amounts to around Rs90 million.

If the court permits, the additional attorney general suggested, the parties may try to negotiate a solution.

The court gave the parties time to find a solution and adjourned hearings until next week.

Pollution control

The SC on Tuesday gave owners of industries in Sector I-9 of the federal capital to implement recommendations for eradicating environmental pollution in the federal capital.

According to court orders, legal action would be taken against industry owners who fail to act on the recommendations.

This was directed by a separate three-member bench of the SC, led by CJP Nisar, as they heard a case on environmental pollution caused by the steel rerolling mills in Sector I-9 of Islamabad. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2018.