A petition seeking legal action against the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) incumbent and former chairman for dubiously awarding a contract to Sungi Development Foundation, an NGO, for completing a project of Art and Craft Village at Saidpur Islamabad, was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday.
The petition was filed by journalist Maqbool Elahi Butt who invoked Article 184 (3) of the Constitution. Petitioning counsel Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry, made the CDA’s incumbent and former chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi and Kamran Lashari, Miss Siddiqa Malik, chairperson Indus Heritage Village Trust, Samina Asghar Khan, ex Director Sungi (NGO), Architect Mansoor from Mehfooz Associates and editors of Daily Times, Daily Jang, Daily, The News, Daily Jinnah and Daily Express Tribune as respondents.
The petitioner prayed the court to order that the respondents as well as other persons held responsible for plunder of public funds be proceeded against under the law and punished accordingly. He further prayed the court to declare that the respondents did not act under the CDA ordinance and other provisions of law and the constitution, thus the deal was non transparent, unlawful, malafide and collusive.
He requested the court to immediately stop the respondents -Indus Heritage Village Trust and Sungi- from operating as management consultant of the Art and Craft Village Islamabad.
The petitioner submitted that the CDA on August 10, 2004 advertised in several national newspapers under the heading ‘Expression of Interest’ and required firms with specific pre-requisites for qualification to complete the project namely Art and Craft Village, Islamabad, but surprisingly the contract was awarded dubiously to Sungi, which legally did not fulfill the criteria mentioned in the advertisement. But due to Kamran Lashari’s, influence, the contract was awarded to Sungi and the respondent architect, despite the fact that the architect could not get the contract under the CDA laws, the petitioner stated.
He said the main objective of the village’s creation was to create tourism and general awareness, promote Pakistan’s cultural heritage and to develop indigenous crafts and supporting artisans, however Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, the incumbent CDA chairman, and Kamran Lashari, former Chairman CDA failed to achieve any of the goals.
He said the project was taken away from the reach of public at large, particularly the artists by making it a money machine for the ruling coterie and its dear ones. He stated that the Indus Heritage Village Trust does not possess relevant technical know-how and experience to complete the project and was registered 11 days after the publication of the advertisement on August 21, 2004 against the law and Rules.
He said the project was designed to favor Indus Heritage Trust and Sungi by the CDA in a non transparent manner. He said the non transparency continues to date in the affairs and functions of Heritage Village, which was evident from the allocations of shops to kith and kin by the respondents. He said CDA was the protector and guardian of Indus Heritage Trust and Sungi.
He submitted that the agreement between the Indus Heritage Trust and CDA was made on January I, 2005, adding that the then chairperson of the Trust was Mrs Parveen Malik, spouse of Dr Shaukat Ali Malik, who soon got aside due to illegal and other suspicious activities of the present respondents. The petitioner questioned as to whether the CDA was justified under the law and CDA rules to award exclusive rights of the Islamabad Heritage Village to Sungi as per agreement of January 1, 2005 without the provision of any check and balance, and whether the earnings from the village amounting to millions of rupees were accounted for. He stated that without giving any justification the CDA changed the location of the project from Saidpur village to Shakarparian, while the budget allocation for the project was increased from Rs 185 million to Rs333million.
