ISLAMABAD: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday summoned the secretary interior, the chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA), chief commissioner and the inspector general of police Islamabad in a matter related to the removal of illegal `katchi abadis` in the city.

They were directed to inform the court on April 16 about the actions taken on the directions of the court for the removal ofthe illegal slums.

Justice Siddiqui on February 8 had directed the ministry of interior and the CDA to remove all the illegal slums within one month. The court had also directed them to sever the connections of gas, electricity and other utilities to the slum dwellers.

After the issuance of the order, the CDA with the help of the district administration and the capital police issued notices to a number of slum dwellers and asked them to vacate the lands.

However, in addition to launching street protests, the slum dwellers filed a petition with the IHC against their `forced eviction`.

Farrukh Dall, the counsel for 13 dwellers of I-10/1 slum, alleged before Justice Siddiqui that the CDA was threatening the residents of `katchi abadis` and had asked them to vacate their houses.

The CDA also warned the dwellers thattheir houses would be demolished in case they failed to leave, he added.

He claimed that in the past the CDA used to evict the slum dwellers after providing them alternative plots.

`The authority is evicting the slum dwellers by force and is about to demolish their abodes,` the counsel said.

He pointed out that the forced eviction was against the law and basic human rights.

The counsel requested the court to restrain the CDA from`forced eviction` of the dwellers.

During the previous hearing in February, the CDA had informed the court that there were almost 10 legal and an equal number of illegal katchi abadis in Islamabad.

The legal slums were those whose record existed with the CDA.

However, the CDA also wanted to relo-cate the legal katchi abadis.

The civic agency also said the illegal slums existing on the state land were never given the status of `katchi abadis`; therefore, they cannot be compensated or allotted plots.

On January 28 while hearing a petition filed by Amin Khan, a slum dweller seeking computerised national identity card (CNIC), the judge expressed surprise that such an unregistered citizen was living in the federal capital. He asked the interior ministry as well as the CDA to get the state land vacated from illegal inhabitants.

An additional secretary of the interior ministry sought two months` time to complete the task.

However, the court directed the respondents to finish the process within one month and submit a report on March 12.