ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Park View City, a housing society owned partly by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Aleem Khan.

The petition had sought that the court direct the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to approve the scheme.

The CDA had cancelled the society’s layout plan on Dec 22.

The dismissal of the petition has given judicial approval to the cancellation of the society, with the court observing that the CDA had the authority to make such decisions.

Park View City is spread over 1,067 kanals on Malot Road in Zone IV and was to include 579 residential plots. It is owned by Mr Khan, his wife and two other people.

The society is situated in the Banigala hills, close to the CDA’s Park Enclave and another private housing scheme known as Bahria Enclave.

CDA cancelled Park View City’s layout plan on Dec 22 for lacking a 100ft wide access road

The layout plan for the society was submitted to the CDA in February 2013 and was granted a no-objection certificate (NOC) that was later cancelled.

After cancelling the layout plan, the CDA published an advertisement in local media warning the public from investing in the society. It also restrained the utility companies Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) and the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) from issuing connections for the scheme, and told the society’s sponsors to refrain from publicising and promoting the venture.

The matter reached the IHC in 2016, after the CDA board approved an amendment to the authority’s regulations that made it mandatory for a housing society to construct a 100ft wide access road from the main road to the entrance to the society.

The petitioner argued that new rules did not apply to Park View City because the regulations changed months after the layout plan was submitted. The petition also said that there was no need to construct a 100ft wide road since there was already an 18ft wide access to the society.

The petitioner also said a 100ft wide road has been constructed inside the housing society.

The CDA’s legal advisor Kashif Ali Malik and the counsel for the authority Shabbir Akbar argued that the regulations were amended in the public interest, and specifically in the interests of housing society residents, and therefore the act could not be called victimisation.

They said the authority had set new parameters for the issuances of NOCs, and a housing society could only receive one after it had completed all the formalities.

Mr Malik told the court the CDA board had amended the regulations for all of Islamabad, and not for a specific housing society.

He said the existing 18ft access road was not sufficient for the hundreds of vehicles that would use it after the society is developed and people begin living there. He added that according to the parameters, the society is supposed to have a 100ft wide, 3.5 kilometre road from Kuri Road to its entrance.

Mr Akbar said the society has been included in the list of illegal housing schemes, and the authority has already issued public notices warning people not to invest in it. He said the CDA also published advertisements in national newspapers a few months ago that said the society did not have an NOC from the CDA.

IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb dismissed the petition after hearing the petitioner and CDA’s arguments.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2017