HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday issued notices to chairman of the governing body of Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA), director general of HDA’s planning and development control and deputy director of land management to appear in court on Jan 15.

A division bench comprising Justices Azizur Rehman and Mohammad Faisal Kamal ordered the issuance of the notices on a constitutional petition, which requested the court to direct HDA to hand over plots to 11,000 allottees in Gulistan-i-Sarmast housing scheme.

The petitioners Farhan Abbasi, his father Abdul Manan Abbasi, brothers Arsalan Abbasi and Noman Abbasi who had jointly filed the petition through Dilawar Qureshi advocate asked the court to hand over possession of plots to the allottees who had deposited 100 per cent payment of their plots.

They requested the court to restrain HDA from spending the amount recovered from allottees on other heads. The HDA had approved the housing scheme spread over 2,000 acres in 2008 after the authority received the land from the Board of Revenue on deferred payment basis. The HDA paid 50pc of the price of land to BoR but the board transferred only 500 acres to its name. The authority launched the scheme in 2009 on three years’ instalment basis to be completed by 2012. The scheme was designed for 33,096 plots of various categories and about 31,661 plots were booked through balloting in three phases, the petitioners informed the court.

They said that 17,000 allottees had made 100pc payment and over 11,000 had deposited 75pc to 95pc cost to the HDA but the authority failed to hand them over possession of the land because it had not so far carried out required development works and “illegally” spent the recovered amount on other heads which amounted to corruption.

They said that anti-corruption department had recently lodged an FIR against an HDA official for unlawfully utilising the amount of the housing scheme and feared that duplicate files of plots would be prepared to commit forgery in the allottees’ record.

They requested the court to direct the respondent HDA to refund the amount utilised in other heads and restrain the authority from cancelling plots of those who had not yet cleared their dues.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2018