ISLAMABAD   -  A move to favour officers on deputation in allotment of plots backfired on Monday as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) restrained the Capital Development Authority (CDA) from allotting plots till the next date of hearing. 

A total of 18 CDA officers challenged the process of allotment of plots to the CDA employees and those officers who are on deputation in the civic authority. 

Earlier, these officers of CDA also approached their high ups in writing against a discriminatory ‘cut of date’ for the eligibility of deputationists to get plots which was set by a committee formed in this regard.  

According to approved minutes of the meeting of said committee regarding allotment of residential plots to CDA employees, the eligibility to get plots for CDA employees is ten years of service while the requirement to get plots for deputationists is one year and in case of board members it is just six months of service in civic authority.  

The said document stated that the cut off date to ascertain the eligibility for CDA’s own employees was 10th October 2018 but for the deputationists it is 1st October 2021 which has yet to come.  

The officers in their application apprehended that the cut-off date set for the eligibility of plots for the deputationists is discrimination with CDA officers and in fact it is a move to accommodate the outsiders, who are on deputation.   

At present over a dozen civil servants are serving in CDA on deputation and heading almost all important formations. It is pertinent to mention here that a majority of these officers joined CDA after 2018 and in case of single cut off date of 2018; they all could not get any plot in proposed balloting.  

Meanwhile, in the writ petition challenging the aforementioned process, the advocate Supreme Court Fiaz Ahmad Jandran pleaded before IHC that giving preference to deputationists over CDA officers is violation of law, illegal and against the merit. 

He also pointed out that the aforementioned discriminatory criteria is made by those employees who are the direct beneficiary of this decision.     

It is requested from the IHC that the cut off date for both CDA employees and officers on deputation may be declared the same while it is ensured that no preference should be given to the officers on deputation.  The court in response restrained CDA from allotting any plot till the next date of hearing and issued notices to the respondents for their response. 

When contacted by the Nation, the CDA Member Finance Rana Shakeel Asghar who is also the spokesperson of the authority informed that there was no final decision on allotments of plots and it was a just department level working paper. 

“The incumbent management should ensure transparency and merit in allotment of plots and a single cut of date should be made for all employees either for CDA or officers on deputation,” he assured.