CDA confirms Imran’s Banigala house not formally regularised yet

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has confirmed that former prime minister Imran Khan’s Banigala residence is not formally regularised as the building plans have been approved conditionally due to the changes in master plan commission.

Despite the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s directives, the former premier’s house is yet to be formally regularised. Imran Khan had paid Rs1.2 million for regularisation of his 300-kanal house to the CDA on March 3, 2020. It is believed that Khan’s Banigala residence has been regularised after the payment of regularisation fee.

The CDA in its written reply to this correspondent almost a month ago has informed that due to the changes in master plan commission, the civic body has not hired the consultant. “The consultant as mentioned has to be hired in accordance with the recommendations of the master plan commission in review of the master plan of Islamabad. Such consultants shall address the issues/requirements holistically for the entire ICT limits and not for any individual case”, says the CDA’s official reply.

As per the official documents, former prime minister Imran Khan had informed the civic agency that there is 1, 1371.09 square feet covered area on the ground floor of his house. By calculating the scrutiny and regularisation fee without approval of charges of the building construction, the CDA had charged Rs1, 206,000 for the ground floor of his house. However, the regularisation of the entire layout of his 300-kanal house is subject to meeting the other conditions specified in Clause 8.22 of the ICT Building Control Rules (BCR) 2020. Even after all the prerequisites are met, the approval will be granted on the recommendations of a consultant to be hired by the CDA.

The CDA in its official response told The News that as of now there are no additional charges on account of construction without approval as the applicable charges on the same account have already been received. “CDA will approach all those whose building plans are being/have been approved conditionally, in case any further requirements will be required in light of the final report of the Master Plan Commission and the consultant hired,” informed the CDA.

According to CDA officials, the regularisation process consists of a proper system and this process is completed only after approval of the site area along with fee calculation. As per the officials, the site includes total area, location of the particular house with specified setbacks, front, rear, sides and linkage with main access road as approval is given in context of the entire layout of the site and not just the building.

It is important to note here that Imran Khan had written a letter to then chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar, drawing his attention towards illegal constructions and municipal lawlessness in Banigala. The CDA then informed the Supreme Court that Khan’s own house is illegal. The apex court had then ordered the civic body to regularise the houses in the area, including that of Khan’s.

Apart from Imran Khan, many other notables had approached the CDA to benefit from the Supreme Court orders to get their houses in Banigala regularised. Those who had approached the CDA included Tariq Fatemi, Brig Waseem Iftikhar Cheema and Ihsan Ghani. The News sent a questionnaire to PTI leader and former Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry more than two weeks ago but received no response from him.