Govt forms committee to settle land affectees’ issue

CDA says IHC verdict on compensating affected landowners will be fully implemented

ISLAMABAD:

The federal cabinet has formed a high-level committee headed by Minister for Planning Asad Umar to implement the Islamabad High Court decision regarding the compensation to the affected local landowners of Islamabad.

The affected landowners had been waiting for compensation for decades in various sectors in Islamabad.

Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, Advisor to Prime Minister on Accountability Shehzad Akbar will be the committee members. The cabinet said that the committee would look into the cases of the victims as per the IHC decision. The committee will also look into the cases of other victims. It will make recommendations for their solution and will also propose to the cabinet a policy on the construction of sectors in Islamabad.

On the other hand, the Capital Development Authority, in a statement to the cabinet, said it was a constitutional obligation to provide compensation to all eligible victims.

It said that the CDA has so far given compensation of Rs7.10 billion, 23,844 plots and 16,137 eligibility certificates to 68,192 victims.

The CDA has assured that the amount of compensation and allotment of plots to the victims will be made on the completion of their documents and handing over of the land position and this process will be completed in six months.

Read IHC provides relief to land affectees

It said that a summary will be sent to the CDA board within a week for approval. Instead of the power of attorney, the matter will be referred to the CDA board for an appropriate decision to deal with the direct victims or their legal heirs, and the decision of the IHC will be fully implemented. Under Section 32a of the CDA Ordinance, if the CDA delays in providing compensation to the victims, they are required to pay an 8 per cent surcharge payment annually, the statement said.

This is subject to the fact that the CDA has physically acquired the position and the victims have not been compensated.

The CDA statement further said that a committee comprising the commissioner, CDADC and the legal adviser CDA has been constituted, which will inquire into it and determine the responsibilities of the officers involved. The award is made through a legal order and can only be reviewed through a legal forum. The CDA has already started the development of E-112 and E-123. The tender for sectors E-12 and E-12 is in the pipeline. Work will begin this year. The CDA intends to give possession to the allottees as soon as possible. According to project concept-I, the development work is to be completed in four years, from 2019 to 2023.

Earlier, the IHC had directed the federal government to formulate a policy for the affected local landowners of Islamabad — whose lands had been acquired to build urban sectors without being compensated or provided alternate land by the civic agency — and get them their due rights within six months.

In the verdict, the court had hoped that the federal government would implement the decision within the given timeframe. The court stated that the federal government should ensure that the affectees of all sectors get their rights, which the CDA had already accepted. It added that the conditions approved in the sixth meeting of CDA’s executive board should be implemented.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2021.