ISLAMABAD: Officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) pleaded their case for converting the sprawling National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) into a posh housing scheme before a Senate committee on Wednesday without success.

Instead, the counter arguments by NARC officials sounded more appealing to the members of the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research who discussed on Wednesday a summary that the CDA recently sent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to approve its money-making scheme.

CDA officials claimed that the NARC had lost its rights over the land because it violated its mandate but the NARC pleaded that the nation`s food security would be threatened if it was evicted from the land where it carried out research in better seeds and crops.

NARC is the largest research centre of the Pakistan Agricultural ResearchCouncil (PARC). Green houses, experimental fields, gene banks, laboratories, a library and other related setups are the NARC facilities, situated close to the Rawal Lake. Big, palatial farm houses, leased out to influential people by the CDA decades ago, dot the picturesque area which has become the new love of private land developers.

Chairman of the committee Senator Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah of PMLFunctional and other members appeared unanimous that the CDA presented a weak case for uprooting a research facility to join the race for developing money-minting housing societies.

`We must protect and preserve state institutions and stop the CDA and the land mafia from capturing national assets,` said PML-Q Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed.

The committee meeting was called to discuss his adjournment motion that questioned the CDA`s summary to the prime minister seeking cancellation of the lease of NARC for violating `the terms and conditions of land use` and developing a housing scheme in its place.PARC Chief Engineer Aftab Ikram told the committee that in 1975 the federal government leased 1,395.2 acres of land for 30 years for establishing the NARC. In 2004, a year before the expiry of the lease, the PARC repeatedly wrote to the CDA to extend the lease, which demanded the NARC should first clear Rs785,000 dues outstanding against it, he said.

On the other hand, CDA officials maintained that the NARC was in violation of terms and conditions of land use and cited nearly two dozen properties built on NARC land in violation of the building codes.

However, the committee members observed that the CDA failed to caution NARC of specific violations of land use over the years and was pointing them out now.

Theylearned that over the last 30 years the CDA merely slapped fines in 46 other violations of land use cases and made Sen.

Mushahid Hussain Syed wonder why the CDA wanted to cancel only the lease of NARC `It is clear from the CDA`s responses that the civic authority is just after money,` said Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah, adding that itdid not issue show cause notice to NARC before moving the summary to the prime minister for cancelling its lease.

But a CDA official said that the NARC was `reminded of violations` in February 2015, a month before the authority sent the summary to the PM.

PTI Senator Azam Khan Swati referred to the Rs340 billion relief package that the prime minister announced overnight to emphasize the importance of development and advancement in the agriculture sector.

`We are defenders of PARC and NARC and hope that no wrong decisions will be taken to compromise the growth of agriculture sector,` said Senator Muhammd Mohsin Khan Leghari.

Since the matter is pending decision in the Supreme Court, the committee chairman, Senator Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah, did not pass any directions or made recommendations.

`We do not want our observations to influence the Supreme Court in reaching its decision,` he said, requesting other members to consult the Attorney General before making observations.