In wake of Supreme Court’s decision to declare a major part of Bahria Town Karachi’s project illegal, banks have stopped accepting utility bills and installments of plots, bungalows, and residential units for the illegal part of the housing project from the allottees.
These developments are being termed as the biggest setbacks to the real estate developer since its establishment.
Allottees told ProPakistani that banks have stopped accepting payments against Bahria Town’s accounts.
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“Banks have not only stopped accepting installments but are also refusing to collect utility bills. Bahria Town has authorized two banks; one conventional and other Islamic, to collect bills,” an allottee told this scribe.
“I attempted to deposit my utility bills for electricity and maintenance charges in the authorized banks. But the banks refused to accept the payment stating its higher management has issued instructions not to accept payments,” he added.
A spokesperson of the Islamic bank confided to ProPakistani that in the wake of SC orders, the bank has stopped accepting installments of plots, and other property. However, he said the court orders are not applicable on payment of utility bills hence the bank is accepting the same.
In another development, Board of Revenue, Sindh, canceled the allotment of land to Malir Development Authority (MDA) which later swapped the same with Bahria Town.
This was decided in a meeting held at the Board of Revenue. ProPakistani obtained the minutes of the meeting, which were submitted by Sindh Government to the Supreme Court as part of the implementation measures.
The document shows the meeting was held on October 29, 2018 to discuss the apex court’s order regarding Bahria Town.
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The meeting was chaired by a senior member of the Board of Revenue. Secretary Land Utilization, Secretary Local Government, Director General MDA and Deputy Commissioner Malir also attended the meeting.
The meeting decided to provide the names of government officials involved in the illegal allotment of land to Bahria Town to the Supreme Court. The meeting went through the Supreme Court’s order dated November, 10 and April 05, 2018 and discussed measures to implement the same.
The meeting decided to withdraw the order to allot the land to MDA and handover the same the to Board of Revenue, Sindh.
Sindh Government has canceled the allotment of more than 25,685 acres of land. The revenue department withdrew the allotment order to hand over 14,617 acres of land to MDA on January 24, 2014 and also revoked the allotment of 11,068 acres of land to Bahria Town.
