The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is readying for another auction of plots in different sectors of Islamabad. The CDA Board reportedly took the decision on Friday. While such auctions are a routine matter – held three to four times every year – the main talking point of the meeting was the decision to ask its employees to return allocated houses as it plans to modify the process for allotting these residences. The CDA has received criticism in the past, especially from the judiciary for the process followed in allocating residences for its employees. The CDA Board in 2002 had decided to adopt the Federal Government Accommodation Allocation Rules 2002 for giving houses to the agency’s employees from the CDA’s pool. However, in numerous instances, some CDA employees had alleged that their cases for housing were not dealt with by the civic agency as per the rules. As a result, they had approached the Ombudsman secretariat and even the Supreme Court with their grievances. According to the proposed recommendations by the CDA board, a fresh allotment of CDA accommodation would be made on the basis of seniority along with eligibility of the particular class or category of accommodation in the updated general waiting list. While the main job of the authority is to study the feasibility and develop new sectors, it has mainly relied on the auction of left-over plots in the developed sectors to fill-up its kitty. Previously, the CDA had to face difficulties in the auction of land it has given to people under its “beautification policy”. Under the policy, devised in 2005-06, the CDA had allowed the residents next to the CDA empty plots to beautify the land for public use. But over the years, people started encroaching, and the CDA had to finally abolish the policy – leading to a number of litigations. The CDA is unlikely to face any hurdles this time around as the land up for grabs is undisputed property. The authority should not only limit itself to developing new sectors and auctioning plots, but it should also explore other opportunities to increase its revenues. In this regard, the authority should keep in view the effects of policies adopted during the past decade to ensure such situation do not arise again. *