ISLAMABAD: Another petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over the Defence Housing Authority’s failure to hand over plots to the allottees in DHA Valley a decade after the scheduled time.

The DHA has hired a lawyer to pursue the identical petitions pending before the IHC.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of the IHC had earlier last month warned the housing authority of closing right of audience since it had not responded to repeated notices issued to the DHA administrator since 2019.

Raja Aleem Khan Abbasi appeared before the court on Wednesday and told Justice Aurangzeb that the DHA had hired him to pursue the petitions. He sought time to submit a reply.

Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned till June 16.

Meanwhile, another petition filed in the IHC stated that in response to the DHA’s advertisement for allotment of plots, the petitioner, other Pakistani citizens and hundreds of overseas Pakistanis had booked their plots in DHA Valley in 2008, which were scheduled to be handed over to them in 2011.

According to the petition, the DHA administration “misled the petitioner to grab his money” and put him in deep stress.

The petition stated that the act of the housing authority was contradictory to Articles 4 and 25 of the Constitution and against the principles of good governance and transparency.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the DHA administrator to hand over the plots to the allottees.

DHA Valley project is one of 50 mega land scam cases the National Accountability Bureau had listed before the Supreme Court in 2013.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2021