ISLAMABAD: A real estate giant submitted a layout plan that had been cancelled by the civic agency five years ago to a civil court to get a stay order against the demarcation of Bahria Enclave.

The district administration of Islamabad in its demarcation claimed that “Bahria Enclave encroached upon 510 kanal and six marla government land.”

According to the demarcation report, the housing society constructed commercial plazas, houses, a park, zoo and a grid station on the CDA land.

But the housing society challenged the demarcation in the civil court in September and requested it to restrain the civic agency from demolishing the structures on the land.

Court refuses to extend stay after being informed that layout plan filed by Bahria Town was cancelled in 2013

When the court sought the approved layout plan for Bahria Enclave, the housing society submitted a layout plan which had been cancelled by the CDA in 2013. Subsequently, the court granted a stay order in the matter.

However, when the civil judge Mohammad Naseeruddin resumed hearing in the case on Saturday, CDA’s legal adviser Kashif Ali Malik informed him that the housing society in a fraudulent manner had submitted the cancelled layout plan to get the stay order.

He said the district administration had already carried out demarcation of the land and found over 510 kanals in the adverse possession of Bahria Enclave. This led the court to withdraw the stay order.

The order issued by the judge read: “I have considered the documents presented by defendants [CDA]…after the consideration of these documents I am not inclined to extend ad-interim injunction, hence, ad-interim injunction granted on September 14, 2018 is hereby vacated.”

The housing society had filed a petition against the cancellation of the layout plan in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in 2013. However, while the petition was pending before the IHC, the real estate giant not only completed the Bahria Enclave project but also sold out the plots.

The CDA report on the layout plan alleged that “Bahria Town is carrying out development work in Bahria Enclave (extension, almost three times larger in size, layout plan whereof has not been approved) even after issuance of a show-cause notice dated May 24, 2013, wherein it had been directed to stop development work at the site. The petitioner company [Bahria Town] is carrying out development illegally after encroaching on the CDA land for the access purpose to the site and advertising the scheme in print and electronic media with ulterior motives and thus misguiding the general public.”

The CDA stated that the petitioner company had advertised its scheme illegally in 2011 just after launch of CDA’s Park Enclave…and also misled the general public. After that the petitioner got issued a layout approval letter dated July 16, 2011, in violation of amendments to the provision of Islamabad Zoning Regulations 2010. The approval was withdrawn in 2013.

Bahria Town started construction work after submitting the engineering design to the CDA and also encroached upon the government land to link Bahria Enclave with Park Road.

In the suit filed before the civil court, the counsel for Bahria Town contended that the CDA wanted to encroach upon Bahria Enclave’s land.

After preliminary hearing of the application, the civil judge appointed a local commission to ascertain whether Bahria Enclave was in possession of its own land and who was encroaching on the land.

However, after Saturday’s hearing the civil court recalled the order regarding appointment of the local commissioner observing that since the demarcation had already been carried out, there was no need to repeat the exercise.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2018