ISLAMABAD: A three-member scrutiny committee has been formed to look into complaints of alleged wrongdoing in built-up-property (BuP) awards announced by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) a few years ago and the subsequent allotment process conducted in Chattha Bakhtawar recently.

The committee formed by CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed includes Member Estate Khushal Khan,

Member Planning Hafiz Ehsanul Haq and Member Engineering Hafiz Dr Ahmad Bakhsh.

While awards are still being probed by NAB, CDA’s land directorate has started finalising claims

The committee is to check how many BUP cases are genuine and eligible for the allotment of alternate plots.

Last month, CDA had got possession of 237 kanals of land from locals of Chattha Bakhtawar, Park Road.

The land was handed over to the Ministry of National Health Services for the construction of the King Hamad Nursing University.

The BuP award is currently being probed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and before the outcome of the probe, the CDA’s Land Directorate had started finalising the claims and there were reports that some people were issued allotment letters as well.

This caught the attention of the CDA chairman, who constituted a three-member committee to scrutinise the BuP cases. According to sources, the chairman has directed that no cases will be processed without scrutiny.

“Those who are eligible will be given what is their right but those who cannot make their cases will not be given alternate plots against their BuP claims. Locals will have to prove they are the owners of the land in the area in order to get plots against their BuP claims,” an official said.

CDA had acquired over 900 kanals in Chattha Bakhtawar in 1981 but there was a dispute between locals and the civic agency regarding the compensation amount as the civic agency did not announce the BuP award on time.

In 2017, it announced a dubious BuP award, making over 750 people eligible for claims. Serious allegations were made regarding the award and some officials said a large number of bogus entries were made as part of the award.

The criticism led to a NAB investigation into the BuP award last year, which is still under process.

Sources said that before announcing the award, CDA did not get Google images from the last few years, which is considered the simplest method to find out which houses existed in a location.

According to a survey conducted a few years ago, there were 134 residential units in the area and that number had increased to 400 in July 2017. When CDA said there are 430 genuine claims, the civic agency’s claim was contested by locals and finally, CDA’s deputy commissioner, Qazi Ahmed Shoaib in 2017 announced the BuP award, accepting over 750 claims.

Meanwhile, while the matter is still being probed by NAB, the Land and Rehabilitation Directorate of the CDA started finalising BuP claims and it is said that some people were also issued allotment letters.

When the matter was brought into the notice of the CDA chief, he formed a three-member committee to look into the matter.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2019