LAHORE: Governor Chaudhry Sarwar on Friday promulgated an ordinance for setting up a commission to regularise housing schemes in Punjab and take strict action against illegal housing schemes.

Mr Sarwar said illegal housing schemes would not be tolerated under any circumstances and immediate and strict measures would be taken against them.

The ordinance states that a commission, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, would be constituted to take action against illegal housing schemes in Punjab.

A town planner, a civil engineer, a lawyer, and an environmentalist will also members of the commission. At the same time, the commission will be able to get the services of an expert from any relevant public or private sector.

Governor says illegal schemes not to be tolerated

The ordinance states that any housing scheme that does not comply with the legal requirements will be punished by two percent of the land as a penalty. If a housing scheme is set up without parks and open spaces, the commission will be able to impose a penalty of two times the value of deficit land as per residential value, the ordinance says.

In case of non-allocation of space for the cemetery, the commission can impose a penalty of two times the deficit land as per residential value and at the same time, a housing scheme is bound to purchase and allocate space for the cemetery within a radius of five kilometers.

According to the ordinance, the commission will be able to charge three times of the value of deficit land of the said housing scheme as a penalty for lack of space allotted for the public and if a housing scheme does not meet the required standards for road construction to link to the main road three times of the value of deficit land as per applicable residential valuation table will also be levied as a penalty.

If the required standard of roads is not maintained even within the housing scheme, the housing scheme will have to pay two times the value of deficit land as per the applicable residential valuation table as a penalty.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2021