ICT girls’ college struggling to reclaim own land

Islamabad: The Islamabad Model College for Girls, I-8/3, is struggling to reclaim its 1.16 acres land sliced, converted into residential plots and sold by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) one and a half decades ago.

The college insists that the civic agency’s move violates the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Human Rights Case No 974-P of 2009 that a college’s land is a public amenity and it cannot be used for any other purpose except what it was intended for.

According to insiders, the CDA allotted 4.85 acres of land for the college’s building in 2005 despite being paid for 6.01 acres of land by the Federal Directorate of Education, which has the administrative and control of public sector educational institutions in the capital city.

They called the reduction of plot size by 1.16 acres ‘China cutting’, illegal practice of slicing plots from land earmarked for public amenities and converting them into residential and commercial ones for sale at fat profits.

The 1.16 acres land of the college was earmarked by the civic agency for future use that has a clear mention on the sector’s map. However, it was later converted into three large residential plots that were allotted to influential people.

The college’s administration officer told ‘The News’ that shortly after becoming operational in 2009, the college repeatedly requested the CDA for the handover of the 1.16 acres land, but to no avail. “Instead of the allotment of that land, the authority offered us a piece of land toward the backside of the college alongside a nullah. We accepted the offer reluctantly thinking that something is better than nothing,” he said.

According to the official, the college began putting up a retaining wall on the boundary there but the CDA blocked the work declaring it a violation of the building regulations. “It’s simply a joke that a civic agency first allots a piece of land and then declares construction on it illegal,” he said.

The official said he had learned that Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency had declared that the land alongside the nullah was unsafe, without assessment of environmental impact and against the environmental law.

A teacher regretted that the civic agency first ate the college’s funds and then hoodwinked it into accepting a land offer, which later caused it a troublesome problem. She said it seemed to be a crime to first sell the precious land of a college and then make it accept a terrible and unsafe land as replacement.

“Three villas have been built on our land and their residents have occupied a large tract of adjacent land,” she claimed. Khursheed Alam, the father of a student, said depriving the college of its land through ‘China cutting’ was a disservice to the cause of the girls’ education. He asked the premier to step in to ensure the return of the prime land to the college.

Members of the College Management Committee called for strict action against the culpable officials. Professor Tahir Mahmood of the Federal Government College Teachers Association demanded that the college be given the 1.16 acres land it'd lost to the ‘China cutting’ and that the illegal structures around the campus be pulled down for the conservation of the environment.

“The college area should be restored to its original state to further the cause of the girls’ education,” he said. Principal Dr Nasreen Kausar Rafiq, too, said the college should get back the land sliced and converted into residential plots by the CDA. She said the sought-after land’s handover would facilitate the launch of new programmes like Associate Degree and BS.

The principal said the college with 1,200 students catered for the educational needs of a sizeable population of girls living in Islamabad’s I-8, I-9, I-10 sectors, Sohan, Margallah Town, Iqbal Town, Khanna Pul, Tramari, Chak Shahzad and Rawal Town areas and Rawalpindi’s Khayaban-e-Sir Syed and Pindora locality.

When contacted, spokesman for the CDA Mazhar Hussain said the civic agency was proceeding on the matter in line with the relevant rules and procedures. "Objections or reservations regarding the CDA may be conveyed in writing through official channel to resolve the problem if any," he said.