NoC was never issued to PTI chief for construction of Bani Gala residence, SC told

• PTI North Punjab chapter president says statements given by additional deputy commissioner, former Bara Kahu UC secretary are ‘pack of lies’

• Former UC secretary claims local authority did not issue NoC to Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Additional Attorney General (AAG) Nayyar Rizvi on Wednesday, while submitting a report in the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday, said that he could not verify the no-objection certificate (NoC) submitted by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan for the construction of his Bani Gala mansion in the federal capital.

The apex court had directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on February 23 to verify all the records pertaining to granting of permission to PTI chief to build his mansion.

Earlier in February, Chief Justice (CJ) Saqib Nisar had warned that all illegal structures would be demolished in Bani Gala if constructed without paying heed to CDA rules. “It is important that building regulations are followed by all,” the chief justice had remarked.

In an interesting development on Wednesday, former secretary of Union Council of Bara Kahu Muhammad Umar, who worked there in 2003, claimed that no such document was issued to Imran by the local authority.

In his reply to the court, Umar said that the NoC, dating back to 2003, was a computerised copy, whereas the local authority was still maintaining paper record because the computer systems had not been upgraded by that time. Furthermore, Umar claimed that the blueprint of the house submitted by the PTI chief was also “fake” as no such record existed in the Bara Kahu UC.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and CDA officials submitted a two-page report in May 2017 after an earlier court order directed them to submit a report about the rise of encroachments in Bani Gala. The report also included a list of 122 illegal buildings, including the residence of the PTI chief.

Meanwhile, PTI North Punjab chapter President Amir Kayani on Wednesday rubbished the allegations of former UC official who said that Imran Khan’s NoC for his Bani Gala residence was fake and not issued by the local government.

“The statements given by the additional deputy commissioner and former Bara Kahu UC secretary are a pack of lies,” Kayani said in a video message. Terming Muhammad Umar’s claims as unfounded, he said that the entire process, from buying the land to finalising the construction of the Bani Gala residence was carried out per law.

“At that time, no permission was needed for the construction but Imran Khan still stressed that I should get hold of a written order from the officials concerned,” Kayani said. He also said that the documents were personally collected by him and his father from the Bara Kahu UC office, adding that he would even record his statement in court if summoned by the honourable bench.