RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has decided to wrest control of the legalization of private housing societies from the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR).
The Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency (PHATA) have been given full authority to issue no-objection certificates (NOCs) by the provincial government.
The district administration in Rawalpindi expressed strong opposition to the decision as several illegal housing societies, including the Blue World City Housing Society has already applied for approvals from PHATA, despite being tagged as illegal society by RDA.
The details indicate that Blue World City Housing Scheme is attempting to profit under the guise of the “Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme” and has submitted an application to the PHATA for the NOC.
Furthermore, on October 20, 2022, the deputy commissioner (DC) received two letters from NAB Rawalpindi, with the reference number NABR20201022220509/ 2020/IW-III/Inq, requesting full disclosure of the “Blue World City Housing Society.”
The NAB chairman, on January 28, 2021, froze the land of an illegal society while the bureau investigated an illegal housing scheme in accordance with Section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2010 and the National Accountability Ordinance of 1999.
The RDA and MCR are of the view that this is an attempt to legalize such housing societies under the umbrella of PHATA.
Besides, the sources claim that criminal proceedings against the schemes were ongoing already in the courts, so it was unclear how the provincial government could delegate such powers to PHATA and grant NOCs to illegal housing societies.
