LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued notices to Prime Minister’s Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, housing ministry and Punjab Chief Secretary over a case regarding allotments of the plots in the housing societies.
The petition was filed by a citizen Ali Jawad. The counsel of the petitioner Sheraz Zaka stated that after the eighteenth amendment, property rights have become fundamental rights, but there is no housing policy of the federal government to accommodate the poor so far.
He argued that there is no regulatory mechanism to keep checks and balances on the real estate sector. “Big real estate developers fetch money in huge amounts without the development of the schemes and they had not issued the allotment letters even after more than ten years have elapsed” Zaka argued further.
Giving an example of India, the counsel for the petitioner stated before the court that there is a regulator to regulate the real estate sector to keep checks and balances on their exploitation. He also stated that the real estate sector is charging an exorbitant amount in the form of the development charges but the housing ministry has no regulatory mechanism.
He pleads the court to direct the respondents to legislate or frame a policy on property/real estate business in order to delineate strict enforcement of the project, delivery and timelines with respect to the development schemes of the defence housing authority and other real estate developers.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Shahid Waheed issued notices to the respondents to file comments within four weeks.
