Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The affected persons of ‘One Constitution Avenue’ on Tuesday filed a case in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking directives for the CDA to strictly implement its building laws in capital.

The 38 affected persons of Grand Hayat Hotel filed the case through their counsel, Muhammad Ali Raza Advocate, seeking directives for the CDA to take actions against the other key buildings violating the CDA laws.

The petitioner stated that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had also admitted in a report submitted with the bench that some of the leading buildings including the Centaurus, Silver Oaks F-10 Markaz, Marriot Hotel F-5/1, UBL, Islamabad Stock Exchange Building, DHS F-7 Markaz and OGDCL building in the Blue Area had not obtained the mandatory completion certificate and yet admittedly they have illegally occupied the buildings. It also admitted that the construction violation existed in terms of the construction having been undertaken beyond the scheme of approval granted by the CDA.

They claimed that the CDA had relaxed the law for various key buildings to facilitate them.

The petitioner prayed the court to direct the CDA to act strictly in accordance with law and enforce the relevant rules and regulations and its statutory obligations in ensuring that no illegal occupation of any building was permitted.

The petitioners also prayed the court to direct the civic body to act without discrimination and act immediately in respect of all illegally constructed and occupied buildings and fulfil its statutory obligation without preference to any.

The petitioner said that if all those buildings submitted in the court were not cancelled by the bench, it would be discrimination with the purchasers of apartments at the ‘One Constitution Avenue’ project. The petitioner sought court directives for the CDA to cancel forthwith any and all permissions granted by it in respect of providing services specifically utility services to buildings to whom completion certificates and hence occupancy rights had not been issued.

They prayed the court to direct that all buildings constructed in deviation to the terms of the allotment or the rules and regulations including the scheme as formulated under the Ordinance of 1960 or any lawful amendment there to were illegal and unsustainable and incapable of use and occupation.

It is further prayed that the CDA may be directed to act in aid of the citizens of Pakistan and the petitioners in formulating the necessary rules under the Ordinance of 1960 to protect the rights of the citizens from negligent and illegal actions of the authority specifically to ensure that proper and complete disclosure of all facts pertaining to permissions and status of each permitted construction in Islamabad by the CDA are publicly published and provided to one and all as mandated by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The petitioner had stated in the suit that the property known as the ‘One Constitution Avenue’ was completed and many of the petitioners were provided possession of the apartments to which they had acquired rights and the petitioners found to their utter shock the property was sealed by the CDA. It was then that for the first time the petitioners were made aware of disputes between the leaseholder and developer of the property BNP Private Limited and the CDA.

The CDA at no time gave a notice to the petitioners or hear the petitioners prior to taking the actions of 1.07.2016 and 29.07.2016.

The petitioners were kept in the dark as to the issues relating to the legal validity of the property.