ISLAMABAD: The enforcement team of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), backed by Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration, was on Friday called back from Bahria Enclave when it had not even started its operation to retrieve 510 kanals of state land.

After its notice to Bahria Enclave expired on Nov 16, CDA made “complete” arrangements for conducting an operation but when the team got there, it was called back by senior officials.

The CDA team reached the site along with the necessary machinery in the morning. It was accompanied by a heavy contingent of police as well as the city administration officials. But the team was called back by high civic agency officials for no ‘apparent reason’.

CDA issued the housing society notice on Nov 9 to vacate 510 kanals in a week

Later on, property tycoon Malik Riaz visited the CDA headquarters on Friday and met with CDA Chairman Afzal Latif and senior officials of the ICT administration. They met in the chairman’s office, sources said. However, no official announcement was made about the meeting.

A couple of days back, in response to CDA’s notice, Bahria Enclave management stated that it was ready to hand over, what it claimed was disputed 400 kanals to CDA, and make payments for the remaining land, which it claimed was public area and included a free dispensary, a children’s park and zoo.

Sources said that CDA cannot sell its land without open auction.

When asked about any chance of taking alternative land in exchange for the state land in possession of the housing society, the civic agency officials replied that there was no such provision.

It may be mentioned here that CDA had swapped land with the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) after “relaxing” its rules in 2007.

But civic agency has yet to benefit from the 2007 deal as DHA has not given the civic agency possession of the developed plots it was supposed to get in place of its land used by the housing authority.

When asked, CDA spokesperson Syed Safdar Ali said the operation was postponed as a strategy and claimed there were chances of a clash with the locals.

When the spokesman was asked why such heavy machinery was taken to the site, Mr Ali said the operation had to be delayed after sensing the ground situation.

Meanwhile, he said notices were issued to the encroachers on Friday on individual basis and that the operation will be conducted after the expiry of the notice.

Asked about the CDA chairman’s meeting with Malik Riaz, he said he was “not updated on the matter at the moment”.

The civic agency had issued Bahria Enclave a notice on Nov 9 to vacate 510 kanals of state land in a week. The notice was sent a day after a local court dismissed Bahria Town’s application seeking a stay against a demarcation of the disputed land.

On the other hand, CDA officials say seven houses, two commercial plazas and a hotel have been constructed on the remaining 100 kanals and that these buildings were served notices on Friday.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2018