The Islamabad High Court (IHC) CDA put Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi on notice while hearing a law suit filed by Multi Professional Cooperative Housing Society (MPCHS) on Monday. The housing society has sued the CDA after the latter failed to pay dues it owed to the former. A single-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman held the hearing in which counsel for the housing society, Advocate Muhammad Aslam Waraich contended that the MPCHS had sent a claim worth Rs 2.03 billion to the CDA which the authority was bound to pay within 15 days. “But after the lapse of 15 days, the total amount increased to Rs 2.14 billion with interest,” the counsel said adding that the civic body was not paying their pending dues. Then the IHC issued a notice to the CDA chairman.
The petitioner told the court that the MPCHS was awarded contract for a development work in Sector E-11 in 2008, but the CDA took over even after the Supreme Court had barred the civic agency from having a public-private partnership in the scheme. The authority then decided to sale out commercial and residential plots stretching over an area of 54 acres in northern strip of Sector E-11.
The counsel said the MPCHS was then obliged to claim its lawful expenditures for the investment that it had made on the project. “This was followed by a “neutral” commission that was formed by the civic agency to look into the matter. The CDA also suggested an audit of the MPCH claim by an internationally-recognised firm on CDA’s expenses,” the counsel added. But, he said, the audit firm imposed an “unjust” tax of Rs 1.64 billion on the verified claim of the MPCHS. He demanded the court should bind the CDA to pay the money it owed to the MPCHS without deducting any taxes. After hearing the arguments, CJ Iqbal Hameedur Rehman sought a written reply from the CDA chairman in that regard.
