ISLAMABAD, Nov 9: A petition regarding the alleged encroachment of 10 kanals government land by a Member National Assembly (MNA) Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry has been taken up by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The petition accuses Mr Chaudhry, an MNA from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), of occupying 10 kanals in Sector F-7/4. The petitioner, Nadeem Abbasi, is a neighbour of the MNA and had filed the plea in the IHC last month.

Court officials had then sent notices to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and are now waiting for the reply.

Once the reply is received, the petition would be fixed before the IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi.

Mr Abbasi, in the petition, alleged that the PML-N legislator had illegally occupied the open space adjacent to his (petitioner`s) house in F-7/4.

Furthermore, he said Mr Chaudhry had also encroached upon CDA land and had raised illegal constructions -rooms, sheds and toilets for the security guards deputed there.

He said that the presence of armed guards in the neighbourhood had affected the privacy of the petitioner and other residents of the area.

According to Mr Abbasi, the MNA could not raise constructions on any portion of CDA land.

He could, however, use the open space adjacent to his house for beautification purpose after getting approval of the civic body.

A visit to the location by this reporter revealed that the legislator had turned the dead end of a street in F-7/4 into his private parking.

He had blocked the access of other residents to the site by placing a barrier at the entry where armed guards were also deployed.

The 10 kanal CDA land is situated opposite to the legislator`s house which he had developed into his personal recreational area and also raised some constructions.

When contacted, MNA Chaudhry said he had obtained permission from the CDA for thebeautification of the area which was currently in his possession.

`There was a nullah in front of my house and the place was not worth living. Therefore, I decided to make the open space more beautiful,` he said.

`I developed the area for other residents of the locality as well. I never prevented anyone from visiting the recreational area or from parking a car,` he added.

He claimed he had CDA`s permission to convert the open space into a park and parking.

As per the CDA record, on November 25, 2004, the civic agency conditionally allowed Mr Chaudhry to beautify the openspace adjacent to his house.

However, the CDA had also made it mandatory for him that the `adoption of green space will purely contribute to the public service on voluntary basis.

It maintained that the arrangements would not confirm any rights to Mr Chaudhry regarding the land.

Furthermore, no commercial activity was allowed, and CDA clearly stated that the space would remain open to the public. In this regard, a fence or boundary wall was also not allowed.

Similarly, in November 2012, the CDA enforcement directorate had received several complaints fromthe residents and decided to inspect the site.

It found that `the owner (Mr Chaudhry) is persistently violating the terms and conditions offered to him.

The CDA report said, `A written notice has already been issued to him (Mr Chaudhry) for early vacation of [the] land. Therefore, a case may be submitted to Member (Estate) CDA for perusal and approval for vacation of CDA land from the illegal occupant.

According to the documents, CDA town planner Abdul Karim Baloch also visited the location in January 2013.

In his report, Mr Baloch ob-served that the lawmaker had developed a garden with temporary structures on CDA land along the nullah.

He maintained that the Mr Chaudhry`s representative was requested to produce any permission or approval of the authority for the beautification of CDA land.

`The representative promised to present the same in office on January 30, 2013. However, the said permission/approval (if any) has not been received in this office,` Mr Baloch said in his report.

He added that a record from the planning wing was also consulted but no such permission to Mr Chaudhry was found.