File photo of lawyers. PHOTO: ONLINE
Many at the federal capital’s civic agency are having trouble figuring out if it was the sacredness of the city’s top court or fear of its judges that compelled the CDA board to approve the allocation of acres of precious land to Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the heart of the capital, blatantly violating existing rules.
Officials are also perturbed over the board’s haste in allocating land soon after a request for land allotment initiated from the IHC.
The IHC undoubtedly tops the list of government departments who, in the recent past, benefited most from the policy of land allotment to government institutions at nominal rates.
In a recent development, the CDA board approved the allocation of 3.3 acres to IHC along Constitution Avenue in addition to a five-acre plot recently allotted to it for the establishment of a new court building. The CDA has also approved the allocation of another five-acre plot near the existing court building in Sector G-10.
After incorporating the newly-allotted 3.3-acres, the plot meant for the new high court building on Constitution Avenue would span 8.3 acres.
A CDA official revealed that besides this, 10 acres of land had earlier been allocated to the IHC in the Diplomatic Enclave Extension — south of Quaid-e-Azam University — for the establishment of a residential colony for judges and other court officers.
All these allocations and allotments were made in an unprecedented haste by the CDA board without obtaining permission or even following the prerequisite procedures for such allotments, said the CDA official.
“Such requests are supposed to be initiated through proper channels. A government department which requires land in Islamabad requests its controlling division or ministry to move the application. The controlling division then sends it to the Cabinet Division for approval from the Prime Minister of Pakistan,” said the official.
Besides the premier’s approval, certificates from the controlling division are also required. In the IHC’s case, the concerned department is the law ministry, which should approve the PC-I of the project for which the land is required, provide assurance that the required funds for the project are available, and flesh out a covered area breakup of the required office building.
“On the basis of covered area break up, the Planning Wing of the CDA works out the need and size of the required plot,” said the official, requesting anonymity. He added that the PM approves the case in relaxation of clauses of the Islamabad Land Disposal Regulation as a special dispensation.
“Procedure was not followed by the IHC when it was allotted a plot of five acres for establishment of the court’s new building on Constitution Avenue,” said the official said, adding that the regulations were not being followed in the two other cases either.
Interestingly, a source in the CDA Planning Wing said the law ministry had earlier turned down the IHC’s request for the allotment of a 3.3-acre plot for establishing offices of Bar Association office bearers along the proposed new IHC building.
The ministry had noted that the Bar Association is a private entity and thus could not benefit from the government’s policy. Later, however, the same request was modified and the ministry was told that the extra land was required for the IHC building rather than private offices.
It is worth noting that the IHC had recently asked the CDA to allocate a residential plot to the IHC chief justice, but after the issue caught the media’s attention, the request was turned down by the authority.
In a similar case in 2011, a valuable piece of property was allotted by the CDA for the establishment of Supreme Court Bar Association’s offices in Sector G-5/2, contrary to the fact that SCBA is a private entity and is not entitled to government land allotments.
When the CDA Planning member was contacted, he said the issue was not in his knowledge and that the Estate member was the appropriate person to seek out. Planning Member Shaista Sohail did not answer her phone until the filing of this report.
When IHC Registrar Meeran Jan Kakar was contacted, he said IHC has recently been established and requires land for new buildings as the court is currently functioning in the session court building.
“It is a set precedent that the court’s needs are met on a priority basis and it is appreciable if the CDA is following the precedent,” stated Kakar, adding that judges of the court are currently living in rented houses and need “proper government accommodation”.
He admitted that he did not have exact knowledge of the formalities required for obtaining land from the CDA. “The CDA has its own rules for such allotments and it is an internal matter for them as to why they are not following those rules,” said Kakar.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 6th, 2014.
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