CCB extends deadline to regularise ‘old lease properties’

Residents warn of property seizure for failure to obtain regular lease before June 30

RAWALPINDI:

The Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) has extended the deadline till June 30 to regularise old grant lease properties.

The CCB said that from July 1, all old lease grant properties, if not regularised, will be seized and confiscated.

The Military Lands and Cantonments (ML&C) prepared the old grants lease policy in 2007 allowing the people to claim their legal ownership of a property, through regularisation and the policy was extended from time to time.

The CCB said that a late surcharge of 5% per year will also be payable in addition to the prevailing fee during this extension time.

The CCB said that the deadline will not be extended after June 30 and from the new financial year, all irregular old lease grant properties will be declared illegal and will be sealed and confiscated.

The dispute between residents and the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board and the CCB over the regularisation of the old lease grant properties has been going on for the last 20 years.

Around 11 petitions and cases have also been pending in courts for adjudication.

The allottees had earlier been warned to regularise their residential and commercial properties, however, it did not yield results because of the high rates demanded by the cantonment authorities for the conversion of old grant lease properties.

Sources privy to the development said it will not be possible for residents of these dilapidated properties to pay millions of rupees in the name of surcharge, due premiums, development charges and ground rent.

The allottees of old grant properties said they have been living in those properties before the creation of Pakistan.

The allottees said that a heavy premium was being charged for the regular lease which they cannot afford.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2023.