ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: A law is on the anvil to check violation of building rules by the private and cooperative housing societies active in the federal capital area.

Dawn has learnt that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has prepared a draft bill after the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet recommended that the housing societies be put under the control of the Building and Control Section (BCS) of the CDA.

“That would arm the CDA with the legal authority to take action against the societies violating its rules governing land use and development in Islamabad territory,” said CDA’s Member Planning Tahir Shamshad.

Senator Shahid Bugti, chairman of the Senate standing committee, was of the view that there was no check on the construction activities of the private and cooperative housing societies in Islamabad and needed to be brought under the control of the BCS as other builders.

The BCS is responsible for implementing building by-laws of the CDA and takes action where such laws are violated or where people construct their houses and shops against the set parameters.If implemented through a law, the decision will deliver a big blow to the management committees of private and cooperative housing societies/schemes which have been acting arbitrarily, without caring for the CDA by-laws.

An office-bearer of a cooperative housing society, who did not want to be named, told Dawn that almost all private and cooperative housing schemes followed CDA’s by-laws.

At present, there is a practice in all private and cooperative housing schemes that site plans of residential and commercial buildings are passed by the management committees of relevant schemes which are usually based on the CDA building laws.

“The rules implemented in housing schemes and the laws of the CDA are almost the same but it has been observed that there is no check on violations committed in these schemes,” the CDA member planning said.

Currently, there are 55 functional cooperative and private housing schemes in the federal capital of which 18 have acquired no-objection certificates (NoC) from the CDA.

According to the law, all cooperative housing societies are registered with Islamabad capital territory administration and those launched by private firms are registered with the CDA.

So far, a total of 51 cooperatives have been registered with the local administration of which 46 are stated to be functional and five non-functional. Similarly, some nine private housing schemes have been registered with the CDA. The CDA is also responsible for monitoring the development work in both cooperatives and private housing schemes.

Private and cooperative housing societies have provided housing facilities outside CDA’s municipal limits in Zone-II, IV and V, sharing the civic body’s burden of providing accommodation to hundreds of families.