IHC dismisses Aleem Khan’s plea about housing society

ISLAMABAD: On December 22 Capital Development Authority (CDA) had cancelled a layout plan of a housing society owned by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Abdul Aleem Khan and an Islamabad High Court (IHC) bench here on Wednesday endorsed the CDA decision.

The IHC bench, comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, dismissed Abdul Aleem Khan’s petition conceding to the arguments of CDA legal adviser Kashif Malik that a 100 feet wide, access road from the main entrance was necessary for the society while the petitioner’s housing society had only an 18 feet wide road as per layout plan.

The housing society by the name of ‘Park View City’ (PVC) owned by Aleem Khan, his wife and two other persons, is covering an area of 1,067 kanals at Malot Road in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Zone IV. Under this society there was a plan to develop 579 residential plots in the scheme.

The PVC had submitted a layout plan to the CDA in February 2013, and the civic agency then granted a no objection certificate (NOC), and later it was cancelled. After scrapping this housing venture, the CDA then published advertisements in national press barring public at large from investing in this scheme. The CDA also restrained Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) and Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) from providing gas and electricity connections to this scheme.

Before the CDA cancelled layout plan for the PVC, Aleem, in 2016, had filed a petition in the IHC challenging an amendment by the CDA Board under which 100 feet access road from the main road was necessary.

The petitioner had adopted that the amendment was brought after the approval of layout plan for his society; therefore, the rule could not be applied retrospectively. He had contended in the petition that he constructed 100 feet wide road inside the housing scheme.

The CDA counsel, however, argued that the CDA amended laws in view that when the society will be inhibited, there could be traffic problems, and it is necessary in public interest. The CDA legal adviser Kashif Malik said that this step was taken in public interest, and it was by no means victimisation. The new amended rules will be applicable to the entire city of Islamabad, and they are not specific for a single society. Under the new laws, the PVC had to widen its 3.5 kilometre access road to 100 feet.

The CDA counsel said that PVC already included in the list of illegal housing societies, and the CDA issued public warnings in this regard. After hearing arguments from both sides, the IHC bench dismissed the petition.