ISLAMABAD: In a bid to stop middle men, the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA) has decided not to entertain power of attorney holders for land acquisition, for development of sectors G-12 and F-12.

The FGEHA is a subsidiary organisation of Ministry of Housing and Works, which last year got the federal cabinet’s approval for development of both sectors.

A couple of months ago, the FGEHA had announced land award of the said sectors and decided that the authority will pay Rs7.2 million for one kanal of land.

However, a large number of middle men became active and they started purchasing land from locals against nominal rates on the basis of power of attorney so that they could get financial compensation from FGEHA, instead of locals.

Says original owners should get maximum benefit of land award

Federal Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Housing and Works, which met here on Monday, said that FGEHA has decided not to entertain power of attorney holders so that original owners could get maximum benefit of land award.

The committee headed by its Chairman Mohammad Najeeb Haroon, was told that the FGEHA discourage use of power of attorney as middle men have purchased land from locals against throwaway prices.

He added that a brother of naib tehsildar Zakir Hussain of FGEHA also purchased land on the basis of 20 attorneys; when the matter came to the notice of ministry, the naib tehsildar was removed from his position.

Some committee members said that it will be difficult for FGEHA to stop locals from selling their land, as it is their right to sell their property on the basis of attorney.

The minister said the FGEHA will only entertain cases where the those who have been allotted land will accompany attorney holders.

The committee decided that if the said action of discouraging attorneys is being taken to ensure transparency, the committee supports this action and in case of any issue, the other party has a legal forum to challenge the said decision.

It is relevant to note here the said two sectors were CDA’s sectors, but the civic agency failed to develop them despite the passage of decades.

The CDA had announced land award of the said sectors in 1985, but the owners were not satisfied with the price and many of them did not accept it. Subsequently, the CDA could not get the sectors vacated from locals to develop them.

However, last year, on the request of Ministry of Housing, the federal cabinet allowed FGEHA to acquire land in both sectors and develop them.

The FGEHA announced a relatively good price of Rs7.2 million for acquisition of one kanal of land.

The FGEHA, like CDA is a full fledge authority, which is also mandated to develop sectors. Sector G-13 and G-14 have already been developed by FGEHA and it is also working to develop sectors F-14 and F-15.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2021