Former Banigala UC officials deny issuing NOC for Imran Khan’s estate
Nasir IqbalUpdated March 01, 2018
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ISLAMABAD: A former chairman and secretary of the Bhara Kahu union council told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that a no-objection certificate (NOC) was not issued for the construction of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s 300-kanal Banigala estate.
At the SC’s last hearing, on Feb 22, a three-judge bench had ordered the
verification of a site plan submitted to the court on behalf of Mr Khan by his counsel Babar Awan.
The SC has taken suo motu notice of a case, based on a letter written by Mr Khan inviting the court’s attention towards encroachment on the Botanical Garden, unregulated construction in the Banigala area, denuding due to large scale tree felling and the pollution of Rawal Lake by sewage.
Statement submitted by former UC chairman before SC calls certificate bearing his signature fake
In a handwritten statement in Urdu that was submitted before the court on Wednesday, the Bhara Kahu UC chairman from 1987 to 1991, Mohammad Yaqoob Malik, stated that he did not issue an NOC in 1990 for any housing society or approve the site plan for Mr Khan’s estate, and declared the certificate bearing his signature presented before the court to be a fake.
The statement claimed that someone had fabricated the document, which also stated Mr Malik’s name incorrectly.
The union council secretary in 2003, Mohammad Umar, also stated that he had never issued an NOC in this regard and denied issuing the certificate submitted before the court.
Mr Umar also said that since there was no computerised system in place during that period, all the certificates were handwritten. He said the building plan was summoned by his office, but was never produced.
The concerned revenue officer contended in his report that when the land was purchased, revenue officials were not provided with an NOC from the interior ministry or Mr Khan’s ex-wife Jemima Khan’s identity card.
Ms Khan also did not appear before the revenue officer when the land was purchased, and no one appeared on her behalf in four of the mutations, the report stated, although retired Maj Pervaiz Malik did appear in one mutation.
The five mutations were sanctioned by circle revenue officer/tehsildar Imtiaz Mehmood Janjua on Jan 29, 2005.
The land in Khasra no.1939, which measures 300 kanals and five marlas, was gifted to Mr Khan by Saifullah Sarwar Khan Niazi, who was given general power of attorney by Ms Khan to gift all the land to Mr Khan.
The report said that this affidavit, which was attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, mentioned: “That a land measuring 300 kanals and five marlas in Khasra No. 1939 situated in the revenue estate of Village Mohra Noor Tehsil and District Islamabad was purchased by Imran Khan.”
“Likewise the land was transferred in my name [Jemima Khan] through mutations …. By my ex-husband Imran Khan as a ‘Benami Transaction’,” the report quoted the affidavit, adding after the separation and divorce of Ms and Mr Khan, Ms Khan did not intend to keep the land with her.
In his complaint to the SC, Mr Khan had asked the court to take notice of the mushrooming of unregulated and unplanned commercial construction in the picturesque Banigala area of Islamabad, as well as continuous large-scale encroachment on the Botanical Garden and national park.
Mr Khan had warned that unless the trend was halted it would spell disaster for the wellbeing of future generations, particularly since Pakistan is one of the greatest victims of global warming.
In his letter, he had said that he had spoken to relevant figures in the CDA over the years to draw their attention to the continuous transgressions of the law in Banigala, but to no avail.
Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2018
Imran in hot water over ‘fake’ Bani Gala NOC
* Controversy hinges on submission of computerised documents * UC system was non-digitised in 2003
Muhammad Asad Chaudhry
MARCH 1, 2018
ISLAMABAD: A former secretary of a union council in Bara Kahu Wednesday declared a no-objection certificate (NOC) submitted by Imran Khan in the Supreme Court for the construction of his Bani Gala residence as fake, almost a year after Daily Times pointed out lack of approval for the construction of the sprawling structure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supremo.
In his reply to the apex court, Muhammad Umar, former secretary of UC Bara Kahu, stated that the NOC submitted by Imran Khan was never issued by the local authority. He informed the court that the NOC dated back to 2003, when he was posted as secretary at the union council’s office. “The NOC is a computerized copy whereas the union council had no computer system and the work was done manually at that time,” he said in his reply.
The official claimed that the blueprint for the residence submitted by the PTI chief was also fake, adding that the union council had asked Imran Khan to submit a blueprint of proposed construction of the residence but he never did.
In April last year, the Supreme Court had sought report in a suo motu case over municipal lawlessness in Bani Gala. In May, Imran Khan also filed an application in the Supreme Court against encroachments in the area.
Imran submitted fake NOC before SC: Marriyum —
A5
In compliance with the court orders, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration had submitted a report in the apex court stating that there were 122 illegal constructions in Bani Gala and that a portion of Imran Khan’s residence was also illegally constructed.
It is pertinent to mention here that Daily Times first pointed out that the residence of Imran Khan didn’t have any legal cover. It was reported that Khan had constructed his residence in violation of at least two laws. In a hearing of the case on February 13 this year, the Supreme Court had summoned property documents of the Bani Gala residence of Imran Khan. Resultantly, Imran’s counsel Babar Awan submitted the blueprint and an NOC purportedly issued by the union council in Supreme Court on February 22.
Published in Daily Times, March 1st 2018.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/208798/imran-hot-water-fake-bani-gala-noc/