IHC seeks detailed land records from CDA

Chief justice says women ignored in compensation

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday sought record from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) pertaining to acquired lands for various sectors in a case moved by affectees.

IHC sought a complete record of land acquisition and its use from CDA and Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) within a week in a case related to compensation to the affectees of different sectors of Islamabad.

Adviser to the Prime Minister in Capital Development Authority (CDA) Affairs Ali Nawaz Awan and CDA lawyers Amir Latif Gul and Hasnain Haider Tahim appeared in the hearing.

Awan told the court that he had rendered his responsibilities given by this court as commission chairman into the matter and submitted the report. CDA has been asked to act on the recommendations of sectors E-12 and I-12 affectees within a month, he added.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah, who heard the case, observed that many affectees had died in waiting their compensation amount from CDA. He inquired if the heirs of the people who died waiting for compensation will be paid too.

The adviser responded that the third generation of some affectees was waiting for compensation. Addressing a CDA member, the court said that the authority had forgone Islamic law by ousting the women from inheritance. It inquired whether the compensation standards of CDA and the foundation were different.

“This is a classic case, where will the affected go after 52 years?” Minallah said, adding that there was no such precedent in the world.

There are encroachment and lawlessness in the federal capital. Justice Minallah remarked that the land grabbing continues in federal capital. The people were being deprived from their rights, he said. Two parallel policies of CDA and FGEHA were enforced in Islamabad, the court stated.

Pointing out Awan, the court said that who could better understand people’s problems than an elected representative. The case was adjourned till November 19.

Last week, the IHC had directed the CDA’s member to appear in person and explain why the state has failed to compensate the affectees even after the passage of four decades.

The petitioner’s counsel told the court that land in Sector I-12 had been acquired by the CDA in 1968 and 1976. Plots in this sector were handed over to allottees after 40 years on October 8, 2020.

However, the allotments were cancelled gratuitously after just 20 days.

At this, the chief justice asked why were allottees given plots after 40 years and then why was the decision overturned after just 20 days. He added that the objections raised by the petitioner exhibited an absence of rule of law.

This is the third time that the court has extended the stay on the allotment of new plots in the federal capital since October last year when the stay had been imposed.

In December 2019, the court had observed that in case the CDA failed to do so, the court will order the auction of plots to compensate the affectees, who had been suffering for the past 50 years, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2020.