Unauthorised businesses: Home-offices warned of closure

Commercial outlets in residential areas asked to close or face action.

ISLAMABAD: Flouting the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) bylaws barring any commercial activities in residential areas, many restaurants and shops have been set up and operating in almost every sector for years. The number has grown over the years despite repeated warnings and attempts by the CDA to shut them down.

Once again, the city administration through the police, has served notices on all such restaurants across the city to close down within a week’s time or face the music.

The decision to remove commercial outlets from residential areas was taken on public complaints in a recent meeting of the interior ministry, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Amir Ahmed Ali said.

He revealed the ministry has directed the city administration to warn such businesses, however, action has to be taken by the CDA. “We will put in sincere efforts to rid the residential areas of commercial activity as it creates a nuisance for the public,” said the DC.

An administration official said the CDA were also informed of the notices being served and were requested to take appropriate measures against illegal outlets after the expiry of the deadline.

Restaurants and shops are the primary targets and no outlets including those in the posh F- sectors were spared, he added.

However, it was not clear how the civic body plans to act against the restaurants and shops, which in spite of their illegal status, have proved too strong to be removed so far.

Under CDA bylaws, heavy fines can be imposed on such businesses and they can also be forcibly evicted from residential areas.

CDA spokesperson Ramzan Sajid said notice had already been served on many such nonconforming businesses and the civic body was trying its best to rid the city of them.

A source in the authority said 887 cases of nonconforming businesses reported to the CDA were being processed for action against them. They were sent to the planning committee of the civic body.

“Some of them obtained stay orders from the court and many cases were pending decisions in the CDA’s own court,” the source said, adding that these cases would never be decided for reasons that ‘everybody knows.’

The official said serving notices is the easy part of action against nonconforming businesses. “It is implementation that is difficult and which has never actually been done in reality,” the source added.

Nonconforming businesses make big money and it is tough to act against them when some of this money changes hands somewhere inside the civic body, said another official, who admitted he did not have enough evidence to prove it.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2012.