One chunk of land, multiple claimants

A swath of land spanning 48 kanals in yet-to-be-launched Sector H-16 still remains under the spell of litigation, as multiple people have emerged to claim the ownership of the land over the course of time. Sector H-16’s launch remains a puzzle for stakeholders, whose patience is wearing thin after waiting for over a decade.

Per a news source, the land in question had been surveyed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) more than a decade ago, and when it tried to acquire the land, a man named Abdullah claimed to be the owner of the land and asked the CDA to pay him to acquire the land. Well, this was in 2005, but the impasse is that the civic authority has still not made any payments to anyone in this regard.

Do you think that it was shortage of money that kept the CDA from paying the claimant? Not really. In fact, the authority had been caught up in a lengthy litigation. The Islamabad High Court is currently hearing this case.

CDA and court still confused by multiple claimants of the land

The CDA was to disburse payments to one Mr Abdullah in 2005, but then the authority was told that he had passed. Later, four different people appeared and presented themselves as Mr Abdullah’s heirs. However, finding the real heir of Abdullah to whom the payment would be disbursed was a matter that remained unresolved.

But then there was yet another twist in this tale. The CDA recently received a rude shock when it learned that Mr Abdullah had not kicked the bucket and was in fact very much alive. He personally approached the CDA officials concerned and requested the authority to release his payment.

CDA continues to verify multiple claims

The authority recommends that in such a confusing situation – which has been made even worse by several claims that the walking, talking Mr Abdullah had actually died before 1947 – the land in question should be devolved to the state.

Just as a side note to add to the CDA’s woes, we’d like to bring it to our readers’ attention that since 2005, nine sectors of the CDA have not been completed. According to an official of the CDA, these include Sectors C-13, C-14, C-15, C-16, D-13, E-13, F-13, H16, and I-17.