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WEEKLY
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| Oops, wrong tactical move Mr Musharraf |
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: As a former army commander General Pervez Musharraf should have been an ace tactician but his latest decision to change the status of his power connections at his Chak Shehzad farm may create serious legal problems as the latest move place him in direct violation of the CDA bylaws governing the capital farmhouses’ scheme.
Though the ex-president and former army chief has corrected himself by switching over from his earlier illegally used agriculture connection to domestic tariff, this very move also shows him violating another set of law i.e. he is not using the farmhouse for the very purpose for which the whole scheme was launched by the CDA.
It means that while regularizing his affairs with the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco), Musharraf has now breached the CDA’s bylaws under which he is required to bring 80 per cent of his farmhouse under intensive vegetable farming or use it for poultry production.
Last month he switched over to A-1 (domestic) tariff but did not retain the agriculture tariff D-2(1) to grow vegetable for market consumption nor did he apply for industrial tariff for poultry business.
On Tuesday Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice on Chak Shahzad power scam including Musharraf’s case following a column of an Urdu newspaper editor titled as “Musharraf electricity on reduced rates and appeal to Chief Justice” appeared on May 25, 2009. Interestingly in the meanwhile following another suo motu notice taken by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the CDA is already looking into the violations of the Chak Shahzad scheme.
In its inquiry Iesco has already found Gen Musharraf to have been illegally using the agriculture tariff and has sought recovery of about Rs400,000 from the ousted dictator.
Musharraf, who intended to live in the Chak Shahzad farmhouse, has been enjoying concessional agricultural tariff (D-2(1) till May 23 when ‘The News’ first broke the story of the illegal electricity tariff being used by the ex-general. He though insisted that he did not do anything wrong, the Iesco inquiry recommended recovery of the differential tariff amount from him with effect from March 2007. Now he has only the domestic connection at his farmhouse residence.
Though there is no dearth of farmhouses having being involved in illegal use of tariff as well as violating the CDA bylaws, in most cases the owners of these farmhouses retain both the domestic and agriculture/tubewell connections. There are also amongst such violators who insist that they do grow vegetables or have orchards but the pre-dominant majority of the farmhouses are violating the CDA bylaws.
It is not only the Iesco, which in its inquiry report, has said that in almost all the cases the CDA bylaws are being violated. Iesco said that though the agriculture and poultry activities are in operation, yet not only the poultry production is in small scale but the sowing and cultivation of crops also is far less than the minimum limit set by the CDA.
According to a report published in an English daily, the CDA probe into the Chak Shahzad scheme has found that of the 505 farms leased out for growing agricultural products for the city over 400 were not being used for the purpose.
Under the CDA bylaws, each farmhouse is required to bring 80 per cent of the land under intensive vegetable farming or production of Broiler - 4,500 per month and Layers - 9,000 at a time for production of 5,000 eggs per day. These productions whether of vegetable or poultry is required to be sold in the market to cater for the needs of the local people. If the CDA bylaws are not changed and implemented strictly, many others will use the farmhouses for residence or other purposes other than agro-production a la Gen Musharraf.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
