ISLAMABAD, April 17: After giving due warning, the Capital Development Authority on Wednesday cancelled ownerships of ten agro farmhouses as per Supreme Court orders.

“There will be no discrimination against anyone; no one will be given preferential treatment," declared Chairman CDA, Syed Tahir Shahbaz. In the same absolute tone, he added, "CDA will not come under pressure. The law is clear. Owners of the cancelled farm houses were acting in violation of the law and have not utilised the agro farms for the described purposes.”

In the follow up of an ongoing campaign against the violation of terms and conditions of allotment of land in Islamabad, the CDA cancelled the allotment of ten agro farmhouses that had been given under the Poultry and Vegetable Schemes.

CDA maintained that the owners of these plots had not developed their farmhouses appropriately as per the terms and conditions of the allotment letter, which required them to use the land to grow fruits and vegetables or for poultry purposes.

An official of the Public Relations section of CDA explained that the owners of these agro farmhouses had been served with seven days final show cause notices before executing the cancellation.

The individuals who have lost their farmhouses under this campaign are: Usama Mustafa – owner of plot 49, Syed Naseem Uddin - owner of plot 46, Mehboobul Haq - Plot 38A, Bushra Akram - Plot 24, Rashid Ahmed - Plot 23B and Malik M Akram - Plot 19.

The allotment of agro farms to Fazulur Rehman (Plot 16) and Maimoona Asad Raza, owner of Plot 12, were also cancelled. The CDA also cancelled the ownerships of Major M Akram, owner of Plot 05, and Ahmad Bilal Bajwa who owned Plot 41.

The CDA maintained that its Chairman had issued these directions in the light of the Supreme Court's directives in a review meeting on a campaign against violation of CDA by-laws by agro farmhouses.

On this occasion Member Planning and Design, Syed Mustafain Kazmi Member Estate, Shaista Sohail, and officers of Estate Management Wing, Building Control and Planning Wing were also present.

According to the PR official, “The owners had been given time to follow the law and correct the violations before the allotments of the farmhouses were cancelled.”

He added that construction on farm houses cannot exceed the defined measurements of 12,500 square feet.

And many owners did correct their violations as per CDA's notification.

CDA’s Estate Wing had issued 87 notices for violation of terms and conditions of allotment, of which 14 agro farmhouses had paid their fines.

The cases of 13 farmhouses for recovery of fine are under process with the CDA Magistrate, while CDA has demolished illegal structures at 12 farmhouses.

The owners of three agro farmhouses have been given stay orders by the courts.

Chairman CDA directed the Magistrate to expedite recovery of fines from violators whose cases for recovery are under process.

He also directed officers of the Law Wing to get stay orders for the remaining agro farmhouses vacated to begin operations against their owners.

And to discourage wedding ceremonies at agro farms, the Chairman CDA directed the establishment to maintain a proper and effective monitoring system to keep an eye on such functions.

While CDA expects owners of agro farmhouses who are facing cancellation will explore other options, such as going to the court, the CDA chairman said the plots would be sealed and put up for resale once all such procedures are concluded.

On Thursday, representatives from CDA will appear before the three member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, Justice Gulzar Ahmad and Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed to explain its progress.