April 07, 2008	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 6: Real estate is big business in the federal capital but for the government’s Estate Office it is a big headache.

Reportedly the Estate Office has only 22,000 housing units while it is responsible for providing official accommodation to over 80,000 federal government employees serving in the city.

No wonder the Estate Office is facing more than 1,500 cases in lower and higher courts, challenging its actions relating to allotment of government accommodation.

Dawn has learnt that most of the litigations are attempts at preempting cancellation of allotment, or change in the status of allotment and occupation of a specific house by an unauthorised person without the consent of the legal allottee.

Since the crush of litigations had started affecting normal working of the Estate Office, the government has hired, at great expense, four legal advisers to pursue the cases and assist the officers of the Estate Office and housing ministry called to answer the questions raised in the petitions.

These petitions are pending in the district courts of Islamabad, the Lahore High Court, Supreme Court, the Federal Services Tribunal and the Federal Ombudsman.

Most of the cases lying with the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court have been shifted to the newly-established Islamabad High Court.

Slow pace of the legal process and the sense of insecurity among the allottees are said to cause the accumulation of such a large number of litigations.

Whenever the government changes, or just the portfolio of housing ministry is handed over to a new figure, a number of previous allotments are cancelled on the plea that they were made illegally but apparently to accommodate favourites.

This creates panic among the poor employees who go to courts to get protection through a stay order.

In the previous government of prime minister Shaukat Aziz, three ministers - Mr Safwanullah, Babar Khan Ghori and Iqbal Mohammad Ali Khan - held the housing ministry one after the other. Together they issued about 30,330 allotment orders.

Only some were lucky to get possession of the allotted accommodation. Others were blocked by the stay orders acquired by the incumbent occupants.

Hundreds of such unfulfilled allotments were cancelled by the succeeding caretaker government which issued 222 allotments in its short period of time.

About 160 of these employees have now secured stay orders as a precaution against possible eviction by the newly-elected government.

Whether the new housing minister follows his predecessors or steers a different course will be known soon.