ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday promulgated an ordinance allowing the establishment of a housing authority for the defence personnel in the federal capital, a parallel body to the CDA and ICT administration.
"The Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Ordinance, 2005, extends to the specified area and shall come into force at once", the ordinance said. It gives ample financial and administrative powers to its management and excludes it from the purview of CDA.
However, according to the CDA Ordinance and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Zoning Regulations, no other authority could be established in Islamabad in the presence of the CDA and ICT administration.
The president has promulgated the ordinance a day before the commencement of the National Assembly session in order to avoid any criticism by the opposition members in the parliament, Senator Farahatullah Babar said.
According to the Constitution, the president cannot promulgate any ordinance if the National Assembly is in session, he added. The ordinance said: "As the National Assembly is not in session and the president is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action.
"When National Assembly session is going to be commenced after few hours, the promulgation of the ordinance shows mala fide intention of the government as it could not be passed by the lower house without exposing its dark aspects," Senator Babar of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians said. The combined opposition has already moved an adjournment motion in the Senate on giving the Defence Housing Scheme an authority status.
The ordinance said: "No suit or legal proceedings could be made against the authority, its governing body and executive board, the administrator or any of their members, or employees of the authority for any thing done or purported to have been done by then in "good faith" under the ordinance and its rules and regulations."
The federal cabinet gave approval to the conversion of the Defence Housing Scheme into a full-fledge authority on February 10. The ordinance has empowered the governing body of the authority to frame its own rules.
Similarly, it has empowered the executive board of the DHAI to make such regulations not inconsistence with the provisions of this Ordinance if it is necessary for the administration and management of the affairs of the authority.
Earlier, the DHSI was called as Army Welfare Housing Scheme (AWHS) and under the Ordinance, the AWHS stand dissolved and all assets, rights powers, authorities and privileges and all property, movable and immovable, cash and bank balance, reserve funds, investments and all other interests and rights in or arising out of such property and all liabilities and obligations of AWHS would be transferred and vested to the authority.
The ordinance did not specify the area limit of the DHAI as under the ordinance it can expand in both Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The DHAI executive board will consist of Adjutant General of the army as its president, director-general of the Welfare and Rehabilitation its administrator and secretary of the authority as members while two residents will be co-opted as members.
The administrator not below the rank of brigadier (serving or retired) will be appointed by the Chief of Army Staff who will perform such functions as may be assigned to him by the governing body.
The DHAI would function as an "autonomous body" and it would adopt the rules and regulations of Capital Development Authority (CDA), the new authority's administration, Brig Zahid Waheed Butt told Dawn.
He maintained that the decision of changing the status of the housing scheme would expedite the pace of its development and bring ample foreign investment for different projects.
He said 80 per cent of the DHAI land was situated on the periphery of the CDA and the rest 20 per cent fell in the jurisdiction of Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA).
"Earlier, we have to run to the RDA and the CDA for seeking approvals for even very petty issues, but now the DHAI has been empowered to take such decisions and give approvals by itself," Brig Butt said.
He said after having the status of authority, the administration of the housing scheme would provide its own municipal services to the members and no such service would be acquired from the CDA.
"It would be easy to provide better services to a limited area rather then to the whole of Islamabad," he maintained. The official said the authority would extend its scheme in April while extension of the second phase and third phase would be started in December this year and in 2006 respectively.
