ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered keeping on hold until the next hearing a summary awaiting the approval of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to transform 1,395 acres of land initially meant for research on agriculture into a lucrative housing scheme.
The land at Chak Shahzad was given to the National Agriculture Research Council (NARC) on a 30-year lease for agriculture research in 1975. Since the lease period expired in 2005, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) intends to convert the land situated in close proximity with the palatial farmhouses into a residential sector.
The attention of the apex court towards the proposed development of the housing scheme was drawn through an application by president Pakistan Agriculture Research Staff Association (PARSA) Mohammad Altaf Sher and the employees of the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC). The matter was fixed before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja for Thursday who during the hearing wondered whether the matter was a new case of land grabbing.
After ordering that until the next hearing on Sept 16 the summary will remain at a standstill, the court issued notices to the federal government, NARC and the CDA.
CDA summary sent to PM proposed using 1,395 acres leased to NARC in Chak Shahzad for residential purposes
Established in Zone-IV, NARC was set up with the assistance of USAID, the World Bank and technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and other international agricultural research institutions. At least six international agricultural research organizations, including FAO, have their offices at NARC and are providing financial and technical support to agricultural research.
When the matter was taken up on Thursday, Altaf Sher told the court that the CDA had moved a summary to the prime minister office with a suggestion to convert the agricultural land into a residential sector by selling plots to the intending buyers.
He emphasised that research was an ongoing process and NARC had been carrying out the same on different aspects from time to time.
CDA’s Deputy Director State Saba Asim told the court that the land belonged to the authority but was leased out to NARC for 30 years which expired in 2005 and had not yet been further extended. Moreover, NARC has also built 20 office units and other infrastructure on the land.
“If NARC has done something wrong, would the CDA commit another wrong by conducting plotting and then selling the same,” wondered Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
“This land is not a personal property of someone rather a national asset,” the chief justice observed.
In its summary, the CDA recommended developing the housing scheme which is believed to be more lucrative than the Park Enclave since 6,000 plots of varying sizes can be developed on the NARC land that may fetch around Rs100 billion and another Rs30 to Rs50 billion from the auction of commercial plots.
In a report to the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research on July 15, the CDA claimed that it did not renew the lease in favour of NARC due to non-conforming use of the land. It said in violation of the lease agreement, the council had started constructing colonies for its officers and staff instead of focusing on the agricultural research.
Expressing surprise, the chief justice also asked whether the need for doing research on agriculture had ended at a time when the country was not in a position even to grow enough food grains to feed the entire population.
The court was also not happy over the proposal to develop a housing scheme for the already privileged class on a state land.
Nayyab Gardezi, representing the state, conceded before the court that the summary had been sent to the prime minister but it had not yet been approved. But there is every possibility that it may get the consent of the prime minister soon.
Earlier, PARSA had also appealed to the prime minister to disapprove the designs of the CDA and the alleged land mafia at the behest of which the area was being planned to develop into the housing scheme.
Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015
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