ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has given cooperative housing societies using the names of ministries or government departments three weeks to change their names or face strict action.

This public interest matter has lingered on for quite some time, first coming up before the Islamabad High Court in the year 2020. At the time, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had observed that titles of government ministries or divisions could not be used by private individuals to run housing societies.

The latest move came after similar orders were issued by the high court this week. The civic body wrote to Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat on Friday to order the circle registrar of Cooperative Housing Societies to ensure the implementation of these directives.

A CDA spokesperson told Dawn that as per their understanding, the deputy commissioner would issue orders to the circle registrar Cooperative Housing Societies tomorrow (Monday).

CDA writes to DC for enforcement of high court orders, directive expected on Monday

The fact that housing societies use the names of government departments and other entities such as the Supreme Court, Ministry of Interior, Cabinet Division, Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Commerce and armed forces departments, among others, lend them an air of credibility.

This lulls potential investors, including retired government officials, into a false sense of security since they think that their investment would definitely be safe in a housing society affiliated with a state institution. However, there have been several instances where such individuals are defrauded out of their life savings by illegal housing societies using the names of state institutions.

However, it has been observed that many investors only have the files of their plots in hand but have not been handed over possession of their land.

The civic agency has issued a notification stating that cooperative housing societies were not allowed to use the name of government entities so they have to change their names. Deputy Commissioner Shafqaat has been advised to direct the circle registrar Housing Societies to issue notices to such societies to change their names within three weeks.

Talking to Dawn, CDA Spokesperson Asif Shah said there were around 40 cooperative housing societies currently operating in the federal capital.

“A number of them have been using names of government entities. Their names have to be changed in CDA records as well as with the Circle Registrar Office of the district administration. There is a provision under Section 16-A of Cooperative Housing Societies Act to give such orders,” he said.

When asked how these societies would go about changing their names and what kind of action could be taken in case of non-compliance, Mr Shah said that societies would have to call annual general body meetings (AGMs) where the change of name could be proposed and, after getting a majority opinion, a new name could be adopted by the cooperative housing society.

“If societies fail to do so, we will be left with no option but to direct the circle registrar Housing Societies to remove their management and take over control of these societies. Once this is done, the circle registrar will call the AGM in which a new name of the society will be suggested,” he said.

Mr Shah said the civic agency would comply with the orders of the court. In response to another question, he said only cooperative housing societies that were developed through public or members’ funding, fell under the domain of CDA and these orders would only apply to those societies.

It is pertinent to mention here that the civic agency also maintains a list of illegal/un-authorised housing schemes in Islamabad. The current list of these societies, available on the CDA website, lists at least 140 such societies.

Even among these there are a number of societies using the names of state institutions, e.g: Judicial Employees Housing Scheme, Kirpa Chirah Road, the National Police Foundation on PWD Road, PTV Colony and OGDCL Town, to name a few.

The Senate Standing Committee on Interior has recently formed a subcommittee to look into the matter of housing societies that had failed to hand over plots to residents who had cleared their payments. The body is expected to probe the affairs of societies such as Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Employees Cooperative Housing Society, Jammu and Kashmir Housing Society, Pakistan Medical Cooperative Housing Society, Ghauri Town Housing Society and Ghauri Green.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2022