Get rid of the katchi abadis already, IHC tells CDA

The Islamabad High Court IHC on Friday directed Capital Development Authority (CDA) to remove illegal ‘Katchi Abadis’ (slums) in the Capital and told them to start this task from Sector I-11.

A single judge bench of Justice Shuakat Aziz Siddiqi also directed them to submit a compliance report in this regard on next date of hearing in the identical petitions, filed by Aziz Ur Rahman and others, seeking their allotted land occupied by illegal slum dwellers.

During the course of proceedings, CDA Deputy Director General Land, Hamza Shafqaat, representatives of slums dwellers and Raja Adnan Aslam, counsel for CDA, appeared before the Bench.

Raja Adnan Aslam informed the Bench that according to the plan, they would remove illegal slums from different sectors of the Capital city soon.

Under the plan, the Directorate of the Municipal Administration, would launch an awareness campaign for the illegal slums, asking their dwellers to smoothly vacate the land.

As part of the awareness campaign, notices and banners will be displayed at different locations but this exercise would take time, he added.

The CDA counsel further informed the court that the inhabitants of the illegal Katchi Abadis had encroached upon several developed plots, greenbelts and even banks of Nullahs.

The Bench observed that deserving people, who had been allotted plots by CDA in 1985, were yet awaiting for their legal rights and illegal occupants were encroaching land, day by day in the name of slums.

Justice Siddiqi remarked that even after lapse of thirty years CDA is still asking for more time which was against the norms of legal rights.

Subsequently, the Bench directed authorities to remove Katchi Abadis immediately with the help of law-enforcing agencies and first of all they should start it from Sector I-11.

Later, while seeking compliance report on July 31, the Bench adjourned further hearing of the case for the said date.

Taking to the media persons outside the court, Deputy Director General (DDG) Land, Hamza Shafqaat informed that the plan would be executed with the help of Rangers, Islamabad police and the district administration from Monday.

He further said that in Sector I-11 about 150 plots were occupied by the dwellers which would be got vacated first in compliance with the court orders and then the rest of the plan would be carried out to cleanse the Capital from illegal slums.

As part of the pre-operation activities, the civic agency proposed the disconnection of all the allied facilities of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) and the CDA, he added.

Earlier, on June 4, 2015, the IHC had directed the secretary interior, CDA chairman and the inspector general of police to evolve a plan to remove the illegal slums which was submitted on June 27 in the court.

Representatives of an alliance of Katchi Abadis requested the court to re-visit its order against the slums.

Justice Siddiqui, however, observed that the representatives were neither a party in the petition, nor aggrieved by the order.