Islamabad: SC appoints commission to determine ownership of E-11 land

[Naveed Yaseen]

Sohail Khan
The Supreme Court Thursday appointed a commission to decide the ownership of Sector E-11’s Northern Strip, which the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is developing in a joint venture with the Multi-Professional Cooperative Housing Society (MPCHS).

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad and Justice Ghulam Rabbani was hearing a suo motto case against the alleged non-transparent deal of CDA with the housing society.

The controversy regarding the ownership of the land emerged, as counsel for the MPCHS, Advocate Zulfiqar Khalid Maluka informed the court that the land in question was owned by CDA and that the society had been engaged for clearing the land peacefully. He submitted that the society had disbursed an amount of Rs950 million among the encroachers to peacefully vacate the land.

Meanwhile, some four to six persons challenged Maluka and said that the land belonged to their forefathers and that they had not been compensated by the society rather the society had forced them to vacate the land.

At this Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed it would be appropriate to appoint a local commission to determine the ownership of the land.

The court then appointed President Islamabad Bar to head the commission and directed CDA chairman to cooperate with him in determination of the ownership of the land. The court further directed the commission to furnish detailed report in this regard by next hearing of the case while CDA chairman was directed to determine fee of the commission.

Earlier, during the course of the proceeding, counsel for MPCHS told the court that CDA had engaged the society after advertising the project in newspapers for three times. He further said that the CDA Board had also approved the joint venture for the development of the land, to which the chief justice observed that the CDA Board had also approved the mini-golf course project in Shalimar Park.

Counsel for the CDA Advocate Khalid Anwar submitted that CDA owned the said land, but was later encroached. He requested the court to lay down binding principles so that encroachment on government’s lands should be prohibited in future. During the course of the proceedings, the chief justice observed that as to why CDA was compensating the encroachers. If it is so, the chief justice said, then someone would sit in front of the Supreme Court and demand compensation for leaving the place.

The chief justice asked as to why the CDA was not developing the land itself to save the 43 per cent share of land going to the society.

He also enquired as to who allowed people to encroach CDA’s land. Is there no directorate in the CDA to check encroachment, the chief justice enquired?

Counsel for CDA Khalid Anwar said that so far he had not gone through the documents provided to him by the CDA and after studying the same, he would then be in a position to assist the court.

Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad observed that officers join CDA for one year to receive plots then what kind of projects would they come up with?

Justice Ghulam Rabbani observed that those whose duty is to check encroachment are facilitating the same, as they do not perform their duties.

According to the deal, the Multi-Professional Cooperative Housing Society has to clear the 54-acres Northern Strip of Sector E-11 from adverse possession and develop the same. In return, the society would retain 43 per cent of the developed land while rest of the land would go to CDA.

The agreement was signed during tenure of former CDA chairman Kamran Lashari, but was widely criticised in media at which Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo motto against the alleged underhand deal.

The court was examining the question as to why the CDA was giving out wide stretches of land to the society for the cost of development and why was it not developing the strip itself.

Meanwhile, the court after appointing a commission adjourned the hearing till first week of October.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=194030

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* Housing firm engaged by CDA for land vacation and development says
Rs 950 million has been distributed among encroachers

By Masood Rehman

ISLAMABAD: A three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench on Thursday formed a commission to determine ownership of E-11’s Northern Strip being developed by Capital Development Authority (CDA) in collaboration with Multi-Professional Cooperative Housing Society (MPCHS), a private firm.

A controversy surrounding ownership of E-11 land has led to the formation of the commission headed by the Islamabad District Bar Association’s (IDBA) president.

Zulfiqar Khalid, counsel for the MPCHS, said the CDA had engaged his client to have its land ‘peacefully’ vacated from encroachers. He said the MPCHS had so far disbursed Rs 950 million among the encroachers.

Around six people contested Khalid’s point and claimed they owned the E-11 land. They said they were being forced to vacate the land.

The SC took a suo motu notice of the controversy and formed a three-member bench for the hearing into it.

Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Ghulam Rabbani make up the bench.

The court formed a commission to know the E-11 land’s owners. While appointing the IDBA president the commission’s head, it directed him to furnish a detailed report on the matter on the next hearing fixed for first week of October.

The court also asked the CDA chairman to determine the commission’s fee for the purpose.

During the hearing, the MPCHS lawyer said the CDA had engaged his client after advertising the project in newspapers thrice.

He also said the CDA Board duly approved the CDA-MPCHS venture for acquisition and development of the E-11 land.

This prompted the CJ to observe that the controversial project of developing a mini-golf course in the E-7 Shalimar Park was also approved by the CDA Board.

Khalid Anwar, the CDA lawyer, claimed that the E-11 land was owned by his client but was encroached upon by people.

He requested the court to give a ruling so that encroachment on the government’s land should be discouraged. The CJ asked as to why the CDA was making payments to encroachers of its land. He said if such things were happening, then one day someone could occupy the entrance to the Supreme Court and demand compensation for vacating the place.

He inquired as to why the CDA was not developing E-11 itself to avoid allotment of 43 percent of the land in question to the MPCHS. He also asked the CDA lawyer to give reasons for his client’s failure to prevent massive encroachment in E-11.

“Is there not directorate in the CDA to check encroachments”, he asked. The CDA’s lawyer replied he had yet to go through the documents provided to him by the authority and once this happened, he would be in a position to respond to the court’s query.

Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed observed that officers joined the CDA for one year just to have them officially allotted precious plots in the federal capital. He said in such circumstances, one could well imagine what kind of projects they would come up with.

Justice Ghulam Rabbani observed that the CDA Encroachment Directorate’s officials were helping in the spread of encroachments in the capital ignoring their duty.

According to the CDA-MPCHS agreement, the housing firm has to clear the 54-acres Northern Strip of E-11 from encroachers before developing it. Afterward, 43 percent of the developed land will go to the MPCHS.