Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The affectees of Grand Hyatt Hotel apparently seem uninterested in receiving compensation, as only four of them have contacted the Capital Development Authority (CDA) so far.

Two months ago, the CDA, through an advertisement, had asked all affectees of aforementioned project to contact the office of the CDA Estate Management Directorate within sixty days. They were directed to submit the particular of their property, proof of purchase and details of payments along with their CNIC and NTNs.

However, sources inside the Estate Management Directorate revealed that only four purchasers of apartments in Grand Hyatt Hotel had approached the CDA so far.

“Most of the buyers are reluctant to contact CDA because they purchased their properties through unauthorised and benami transactions using black money,” an official closely associated with the case told Daily Times.

“It will be difficult for them to prove the purchase of properties in their own names and details of payments. Even genuine buyers did now show the real price on papers to save themselves from paying taxes,” he said.

The 99-year lease for a luxury hotel and 37-storey twin residential towers next to the Convention Centre was auctioned in 2005. However, it was cancelled by CDA in July, 2016. The owner challenged the cancellation in the Islamabad High Court (IHC). However, the appeal was rejected.

While dismissing all applications moved by BNP (Private) Limited and other stakeholders, Justice Athar Minallah had directed CDA and the federal government to protect the rights of affectees by compensating them.

Most of the buyers are quite influential people including Imran Khan, Nasirul Mulk, Salman Bashir, Ahmed Mukhtar, Feryal Ali Gauhar, Jahangir Khan, Haris Khan Toru, Rashid Khan, Shazia Hafeez Shaikh, Muhammad Hashim Khan, Dr Asad Zia, Shiekh Amir Waheed, Shahzad Waseem, Muhammad Asif Sandila, Mehboobul Haque, Naseem Zehra Ikhlaq, Khawaja Muhammad Asad and Kashmala Tariq.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to compensate the lawful purchasers of properties, but subject to the final outcome of ongoing litigation in courts.

A meeting of the committee constituted by the IHC was held in the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) on Wednesday. The meeting was presided over by the CADD secretary. The CDA chairman, the CDA Planning member, the Interior additional secretary and representatives from district administration were also present in this meeting.

Sources briefed that the participants of the meeting that they had agreed to settle the legitimate claims of purchasers to protect their rights in the light of court’s decision.

It was decided in the meeting that CDA would devise a policy in this regard in consultation with the Finance Ministry.

When contacted, Islamabad Mayor Shaikh Ansar Aziz said: “We will follow the court orders and compensate the buyers in the light of judgment passed by honourable high court.”

“We had asked the affectees to submit their claims through a public notice. Now it is their duty to approach the officials concerned with documents,” he said.