Islamabad: SC seeks details of expected CDA profits in E-11 housing project

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Masood Rehman

ISLAMABAD: A three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench on Thursday directed Capital Development Authority (CDA) to submit today (Friday) the details of its profits to be earned from a housing project in E-11. The CDA was also asked to furnish details of the deal it had signed with Multi-Professional Cooperative Housing Society (MPCHS) for the execution of the project named Northern Strip. The bench, which consisted of Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, issued these instructions during the hearing into a suo motu case of the alleged irregularities in the CDA-MPCHS joint venture for the Northern Strip development. The CJ observed that the court wanted to see whether the CDA had given the land to the society for the project in line with the law or not. Khalid Anwar was the counsel for the CDA, while Ikram Chaudhry and Zulfiqar Khalid Malooka advocates represented the MPCHS. To a court query, Ikram Chaudhry said the MPCHS had so far invested over one billion rupees in the project. Khalid Anwar said almost 80 percent development work had been completed on the project. He said the CDA had given only 54 acres of the land to the private entity for development. He said Sector E-11 consisted of 700 acres of land. During the hearing, the court asked CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, who appeared on notice, about the project’s total expenditures. Elahi said he would inform the court about it after consulting the officials concerned. The CDA’s lawyer, however, said he would provide complete details of the project today (Friday). The court adjourned hearing into the case until Friday. Under the deal, the MPCHS has to clear 54-acre Northern Strip of E-11 from adverse possession besides developing it. In return, the society will retain 43 percent of the developed land while rest of the land will go to the CDA. The court is examining a question as to why the CDA has given the wide stretches of land to the society for clearing from encroachments and development instead of clearing and developing by its own.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg11_3