ISLAMABAD: The negligence in implementing the building bylaws may cost the bureaucracy as well as officials working in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) plots allotted to them for serving the civic agency.

A single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday asked the CDA to justify the allotment of plots to the officials working in the civic agency on deputation and as regular employees while they failed to enforce building/construction bylaws.

“Why not allotment of plots to CDA officials and the federal secretaries be suspended till the time it is demonstrated that rules and regulations are being enforced within the Islamabad Capital Territory,” said an order issued by Justice Athar Minallah on Friday.

Justice Minallah observed that there was no enforcement of rules and regulations to keep an effective check on the violations of building laws in Islamabad. The judge was hearing a petition filed by 38 affected buyers of apartments in the Grand Hyatt case.

The CDA in July last year cancelled the 99-year lease of the plot allotted to M/S BNP for the construction of the five-star hotel and residential apartments due to serious violations of the building bylaws and the lease agreement.

The IHC last month dismissed the petition filed by the builder and the affected buyers while upholding the CDA decision to cancel the lease.

The 38 petitioners then filed a petition with the same judge requesting him to pass similar directions for other buildings which did not adhere to the building bylaws. Kashif Ali Malik, the counsel for the CDA, on Thursday submitted an interim report to the court on violations of building bylaws.

During the hearing of BNP’s petition filed against the cancellation of the lease, the CDA conceded that illegal, unauthorised construction had been detected in commercial buildings in the F, G and I sectors of the capital. He also submitted a list of plots cancelled on account of non-payment, unauthorised construction, non-confirming use, non-compliance within stipulated time, unauthorised trade and on court orders.

The CDA counsel informed the court that the civic agency had started consultation with the interior ministry and relevant quarters to devise a mechanism for determining the loss to the affected buyers of the under-construction building meant for Grand Hyatt Hotel.

According to him, the CDA was in the process of publishing a public notice in newspapers requiring all the purchasers of the apartments to contact the CDA.

He said the matter would be placed before the CDA board and, thereafter, a reference would be sent to the federal government.

Meanwhile, documents submitted to the court showed that the prime minister was in consultation with the authorities concerned to establish a Building Control Authority in the federal capital.

The CDA counsel informed the court that under the direction of the prime minister, meetings were held in the Ministry of Law under the chairmanship of the special adviser to the prime minister on law for the establishment of the authority.

The authority will have overall control on the implementation of policies and by-laws for buildings being constructed and maintained in the capital territory, he said, adding further steps regarding proposed legislation on the matter were also being looked into.

The 38 apartment owners in the Grand Hyatt case drew the court’s attention to the fact that thousands of apartment owners could only be recognised as squatters, trespassers or illegal occupants in respect of their properties because they did not have the completion certificates.

The petitioners claimed that some of the leading buildings, including Centaurus, Marriot Hotel, Serena Hotel, Islamabad Stock Exchange, OGDCL, DHS buildings and Silver Oaks, “have not obtained the mandatory completion certificate and yet admittedly have been illegally occupied.”

The petitioners through their counsel Mohammad Ali Raza urged the court to direct the civic body to fulfil its statutory obligation to cancel forthwith the utility services to buildings to whom completion certificates and occupancy rights had not been issued.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2017