January 26, 2007	Friday	Muharram 06, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: The Supreme Court was on Thursday informed that the four provincial governments have yet to complete the revised building regulations of respective seismic zones to prevent the level of destruction similar to that caused by the October 2005 earthquake.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad has taken up a petition moved by the affected occupants of the earthquake-hit Margalla Towers. The affected people have sought compensations for damages caused to life, property and injuries to victims besides provision of temporary accommodation and compensation assessed by renowned architects and accountants.

The apex court directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the four provincial governments before adjourning the proceedings for March 6 to finalise and submit the revised building regulations to the court by February 22.

The additional advocates-general of the provinces informed the court that the new building regulations had not been completed though the Sindh government said it had served notices on 4,999 owners to vacate their dilapidated buildings.

In December 2005, the apex court had ordered chief secretaries of the four provinces to submit reports identifying structures which did not comply with building codes.

Regarding compensation to the affected people of the Margalla Tower, the legal counsel for CDA, Arif Chaudhry said the prime minister had constituted a committee comprising four federal secretaries to settle the matter.

Sharifuddin Pirzada, who is representing the affected occupants of the tower, requested the court to issue some directives to the authorities concerned because the issue had been lingering for quite some time.

The court, however, directed the officials concerned to submit the recommendations of the committee to the court.

Meanwhile, the superintendent of Islamabad police told the court that they were in close contact with Interpol for the arrest of the builders of the Margalla Towers — Mohammad Ramzan Khokhar, his wife Kehkeshan Khokhar and consultant Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. The consultant had left the country on October 12, 2005 after knowing that a case had been registered against him.

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