FCC Orders CDA to Pay Land Compensation in Six Months
The Federal Constitutional Court has ordered the Capital Development Authority to settle all outstanding land compensation claims within six months, in a ruling that affects thousands of Islamabad allottees who have waited years for payment or plots.
A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, with Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, directed the CDA to examine and decide the compensation and rehabilitation entitlements of all outstanding claimants, after giving them a hearing, and to carry out the lawful decisions quickly.
The court said the CDA, as a body created under the CDA Ordinance of 1960, could not exercise powers or hand out benefits beyond what the law allowed. It said the power to acquire private property carried a matching duty to fix and pay compensation under the law.
Land compensation claims worth Rs8bn remain unpaid
The record before the court showed outstanding claims of about Rs8.0224 billion in compensation and 10,739 plots still awaiting allotment. The cases covered the CDA’s long failure to pay acquisition compensation, allot alternative plots, grant rehabilitation benefits and develop acquired sectors.
One petition concerned Sector E-12 in Islamabad, where allottees have waited for development and physical possession of their plots since 1989. The Islamabad High Court had directed the CDA in June 2021 to speed up development of the sector and frame a policy to address the allottees’ grievances. The CDA’s E-12 development has moved in fits and starts for years.
The petitions before the FCC arose from Islamabad High Court verdicts of October 30, 2024, and June 14, 2021, filed by landowners, affected people and allottees of different plots. The petitioners had invoked the FCC’s appellate jurisdiction against those judgments and the directions that followed.
Court lays down rules for CDA acquisitions
The FCC set out a set of principles for land acquisition. It said awards that were lawfully announced and had attained finality would govern the rights and duties of the parties. Later awards and review orders would apply only if their legal validity was established.
Compensation and extra statutory amounts must be paid strictly under the law and the awards, the court said. Rehabilitation benefits, including allotment of plots, would be available only where a valid legal entitlement supported them.
Neither the CDA nor the federal government could enlarge, reduce or change such rights through administrative steps that clashed with the ordinance, the judgment said. The principles protected lawful claims while keeping public property and public funds under legal control.
The court repeated that Article 23 and Article 24 of the Constitution protected private property, which could be taken over only for a public purpose and under the law.
Delays are no excuse for withholding payment
The FCC said the CDA was a statutory body formed under the CDA Ordinance, 1960, to plan and develop Islamabad. Its powers of acquisition and the fixing of compensation were therefore governed by the ordinance, mainly Sections 25 to 32, read with the relevant rules.
The court said the CDA could not justify holding back compensation that had been lawfully fixed and had become payable under an award. Administrative delays, financial constraints or internal procedural problems were not lawful grounds for withholding an established statutory entitlement, it observed.
The ruling matters beyond the petitioners before the court. It sets a six-month clock for the CDA to clear a backlog that has left families without payment or plots for decades, and it bars the authority from changing settled rights by administrative orders. The CDA’s land disputes have also reached the courts in the Bari Imam House case.
Frequently asked questions
What did the FCC order the CDA to do?
The court ordered the CDA to examine and decide all outstanding compensation and rehabilitation claims within six months, after hearing the claimants, and to implement the lawful decisions quickly.
How much compensation is outstanding?
The record showed outstanding claims of about Rs8.0224 billion in compensation, along with 10,739 plots still awaiting allotment.
Which Islamabad sector is at the centre of the case?
Sector E-12 is one of the main cases. Its allottees have waited for development and possession of their plots since 1989, and the Islamabad High Court had already directed the CDA in 2021 to speed up work there.
Can the CDA delay payment because of a lack of funds?
No. The court said administrative delays, financial constraints or internal procedural problems were not lawful grounds for withholding compensation that had been fixed and had become payable.
