PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench has directed the local government secretary and Peshawar`s commissioner to produce an updated report about a long delay in the allotment of plots in the Regi Model Town (RMT) here to allottees.

Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice wiqar Ahmad directed the two officers to file the report within a fortnight.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by several plot allottees, including president of RMT Affectees Association Sirajul Haq and others, who requested the court to declare the `denial` of the possession of plots in the RMT`s zones I, II and V illegal and with ulterior motives.

The petitioners, who claim to be repre-senting all affected families, sought orders for the respondents, including the provincial government and the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA), to give them plot possession as due payments have been made.

They requested the courtto directthe government to settle a longstanding dispute with members of the Kukikhel tribe over the land meant for RMT.

Advocate Mohammad Ayaz Khan appeared for the petitioners and said that his clients were allottees of plots in the RMT, which was a project of the PDA, but possession of those plots had not been given to them despite allotment in 1993.

He said plots in the scheme`s zones III and IV were developed and houses wereconstructed on them.

The lawyer said the dates of allotment of plots in all zones was the same but due to dispute of the Maffey Grift Line between the Kukikhel tribe and the government over the ownership of land, the allottees of plots in three zones still awaited due rights.

He contended that some of them had purchased it from their original owners and that they had long been aggrieved by the denial of plot possession as the respondents didn`t take the dispute seriously and were not resolving it.

The lawyer stated that earlier different courts had also issued orders directing the PDA to handover possession of plots to the allottees, but in vain.He said the aggrieved families totaled around 17,000 which also included families of martyrs and retired government servants. He added that instead of resolving the issue, the government had launched new townships.

Barrister Waqar Ali Khan appeared for the PDA, whereas additional advocate general Rehmat Ali Khan represented the provincial government.

Barrister Waqar said that a committee, headed by the Peshawar`s commissioner, had been constituted to look into the matter. He added that the terms of reference for the committee outlined its mandate to verify the legitimacy of compensation claims for disputed land and address `valid` grievances. Bureau Report