by BILAL SABRI
ISLAMABAD: A large number of allottees, who have been waiting for the development of sector E-12 since a long time, have moved an application urging Chief Justice (CJ) Saqib Nisar to take suo moto notice of the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) non-serious attitude towards the development of the said area, despite the passage of three decades, Pakistan Today has learned.
The letter, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, stated: “It is humbly requested to your kind self to take suo moto action and direct CDA to develop sector E-12 launched with D-12 in 1989. The Supreme Court and your good self provides the only ray of hope for 4,500 allottees.”
CDA spokesperson Malik Saleem said this issue was taken by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurance and was still pending with the same committee. “The real issue is that the authority had compensated the affectees of E-12 with land decades ago, but had not given the possession of plots to them. Now the affectees want compensation for their children and families as well, which is an impossible task for the authority,” the spokesperson said. He also said the authority was willing to resolve this issue immediately in order to give some relief to the allottees of the aforementioned sector, he added.
After holding meetings since the past three years, the parliamentary committee had still not finalised any mechanism to hold successful negotiations with the allottees of E-12 and convince them to vacate the area on the agreed terms and conditions. The committee started holding meetings in this connection following a calling attention notice moved by a member of National Assembly Sher Akbar Khan in 2014.
“Whenever CDA starts development, the locals gather and resist such moves through force. Due to this, CDA is left with no other option but to abandon the project on a temporary basis,” a CDA official said on the condition of anonymity. He suggested that the high-ups should involve the locals in the entire process, instead of merely holding meetings in closed rooms.
The CDA’s discriminatory behaviour came to the fore when the authority started developing sector D-12 because some senior bureaucrats and influential persons had bought plots there, the letter stated.
It further stated that hundreds of E-12 allottees have died without ever owning their own house in the area. “Living allottees are either senior citizens or widows,” the letter further reads.
Spread over 777.27 acres, the E-12 sector consists of six mauzas, including Dharek Mohri, Bhakar Mohri, Bhakkar Fateh Baksh, Bara Darri, Sari Saral and Golra Sharif. The CDA sold 4,099 plots in 1989, which were yet to be developed for residential purposes.