ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has served contempt of court notices to the Chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and other officials for violating the court’s directive to allocate plots to an allottee who has been seeking resolution for over a decade.
The court’s ruling highlighted disorder in the law division of the civic agency, revealing that the CDA’s legal representative made a conceding statement without the proper authorization.
Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri of the IHC issued contempt notices to CDA Chairman, retired Capt Anwarul Haq, Member Estate Tariq Salam, and Director Estate Tabinda Tariq, “for willfully flouting, disobeying, and disregarding the order dated October 10, 2023,” regarding the allotment of a plot to petitioner Nizamuddin Siddiqui.
Siddiqui acquired an industrial plot in I-10/3 from Ghulam Murtaza, son of Ghulam Ahmad, allotted to him by CDA through an open auction. The plot’s transfer to the petitioner occurred on June 6, 2013, after completing all formalities.
However, when Murtaza applied for possession, a surveyor reported the presence of a graveyard on the plot with two graves, making it impossible to hand over possession to Siddiqui.
Last year, the court instructed CDA to make an alternative allotment, but the directive was not followed.
CDA argued that its counsel, Hunain Haider Thaheem, was not instructed to make the conceding statement and disassociated from the panel of lawyers. Thaheem contested his removal, stating he acted in line with the written comments submitted in response to the petition.
Interestingly, other CDA counsels, including Khurram Mehmood Qureshi and Amir Latif Gill, contradicted Thaheem, asserting there were no graves on the plots and the land was clear.
The court expressed shock at the petitioner’s unresolved grievance despite clear directions from the court and the statement of CDA Director Estate Management II. The transfer of the plot occurred in 2013, yet the petitioner has been pursuing resolution at the CDA’s office for over ten years.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
