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Pakistan Property News: SHC stops DHA from collecting refurbishment charges

Thursday, December 10, 2009
By By our correspondent
Karachi

The Sindh High Court (SHC) stayed the Defence Housing Authority’s (DHA) operation for collecting refurbishment charges from the residents of DHA till further orders.

The order came on a petition filed by the Defence Society Residents’ Association and other residents against imposition of refurbishment charges in DHA, Phase-1 to VII.

The petitioners said that the DHA imposed a levy in the name of refurbishment charges in phases I to VII of the DHA including residential, industrial, and commercial plots which is illegal and nothing but a tax of compulsory exaction. Petitioners counsel Farogh A Naseem submitted that the impugned charges could not be imposed as there was no rational nexus between the refurbishment charges and the amount of expenditures involved for the development work.

He submitted that the petitioners paid heavy taxes to the Clifton Cantonment Board which is an authority vested with the control of the municipal affairs of the area and it is the duty of the Clifton Cantonment Board to carry out the refurbishment work or meet its expenditures.

He added that development work could not be funded by imposition of taxes by the DHA and in fact no such power existed under law and the power, if any, could not be so delegated to the executive functionaries. The counsel sought suspension of the impugned operation till the decision of the petition and also prayed to direct DHA to submit audit report regarding collection of revenue and expenses and criteria for awarding contracts of development works.

The SHC’s division bench headed by Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, after partly hearing the arguments of the petitioner and DHA’s counsel, Sharifuddin Pirzada, stayed the DHA operation for collecting the refurbishment charges and directed the respondents to furnish five years audit report regarding revenue and expenses as well awarding of contracts of development works in DHA.