ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) ordered 17 inquiries on Thursday related to violations of Islamabad’s master plan.

The CDA, which was recently directed by the Supreme Court to take action against officials who violated the master plan, held a detailing meeting.

Sources said that after the meeting, Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed directed for 17 inquiries related to master plan violations to be initiated.

A CDA official who was part of the meeting said this was the first time so many inquiries, at such a large scale, were initiated at once.

He said the inquiries were related to permission for restaurants in the Margalla Hills, permission for housing societies where they are not allowed, the Lake View Park project, E-11, Saidpur village and so on.

The official said that the inquiry orders have been issued and it was decided that the inquiries would be supervised by grade 20 officers and would be completed soon. It was also decided to take action against retired officers, whose cases would be sent to the Federal Investigation Agency.

The official added that not all the 17 inquiries are new; some have already been carried out at the departmental level, but action was not taken and their files stated that they were “sent to the PM Office for further direction” in 2016.

CDA spokesperson Syed Safdar Ali confirmed that 17 inquiries related to master plan violations were ordered on Thursday, but did not elaborate further.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2020