-Paradise City Housing Scheme in Sector F-16 and F-17 failed to prove land ownership of thousands of kanals of land
ISLAMABAD: During the scrutiny of two housing societies located in Zone-2 of Islamabad, it has come to the fore that the owners of these societies submitted false, fictitious documents of land ownership and failed to complete legal formalities before the sale of plots which were not even developed, according to documents available with Pakistan Today.
The layout plan of Paradise City Housing Scheme in Sector F-16 and F-17 over an area of 2,453.43 kanals was approved by Capital Development Authority (CDA) on December 22, 2006. After the approval of the layout plan, the sponsor was required to fulfill legal formalities i.e. provision of mortgage deed of saleable plots, transfer deed, ROW/open area of land and engineering design etc. within 90 days up to March 21, 2007. However, none of the requirements were submitted.
The layout plan was withdrawn by the CDA as the sponsor failed to prove the land ownership of 2,399 kanals within the boundary even after 8 years of the layout plan’s issuance. Yet the sponsor sold 2,137 plots to the general public without developing the land and collected a sum of Rs 5,243.40 million.
The layout plan of M/s RP Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd. was approved on a land measuring 1,619 kanals for 931 residential plots and the no objection certificate (NOC) was issued on March 11, 2006 with the deadline of 60 months for completion. Again, the sponsor did not carry out any development work.
An analysis of Fard Jamabandi and other revenue documents was carried out after 8 years and it was noticed that the society held the ownership of only 861 kanals of scattered land which could not be developed until its conversion into the consolidated ownership and possession in addition to a revision of the layout plan.
After the issuance of NOC and approval of layout plan, the sponsor was authorised to advertise the scheme comprising of 931 plots over an area measuring 1,619 kanals with 30 per cent mortgage of saleable plots in favour of CDA. The sponsor sold all 931 plots for Rs 2,955.20 million. The developer, however, could not develop the scheme despite a lapse of nine years.
This resulted in the unauthentic approval of the housing schemes based on fake and fictitious documents of land at a value of Rs 8,198.60 million.
It is pertinent to mention here that Rule 2 (a) of ICT Zoning Regulations, 1992 provides that in Zone-2, private sector will be allowed to acquire land and develop residential schemes on the pattern of residential sectors planned in Zone-1. The boundaries of the schemes shall conform to the configuration of a standard sector inclusive of right-of-way (ROW) of principal inter-sector roads as per the provision of master plan of Islamabad and permission for such schemes (Zone-2 and 5) shall be granted by the authority subject to the condition that development of the scheme shall be in accordance with the layout plan, services plan and building plan as
Furthermore, Clause 21 of Modalities and Procedures framed under ICT (Zoning) Regulations, 1992 provides that the CDA shall assume the control of scheme if the sponsor is incapable of completing the scheme after expiry.
Last month, the Directorate of Housing Societies of Capital Administrations Authority (DHSCAA) following the footsteps of Planning Directorate has warned the masses at large to be cautious against multiple private housing societies that claim their land lies in the capital’s territory.
A number of housing schemes including Army Welfare Trust, Capital Smart City, Eighteen, Engineers Co-operative Housing Scheme, Faisal Town, Green Town, Gulshan-e-sehat, Khudadad City, Multi Garden, Veterans Housing Scheme, Wapda Town among others do not fall in Islamabad as per the zoning map and are located beyond Islamabad Capital Territory Limits.
