KARACHI (January 26 2010): The Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) has neither abided by the requirements of Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations 2002 nor served notice on Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA)-Maymar JV Company (Pvt) Ltd for the sale of their project, PHA_Maymar Towers.

Further, it has also not followed court orders to post all details including those of NOC, as prayed in the court by Transparency International Pakistan (TIP). These facts have been highlighted by TIP in its letter written to the Chief Controller, KBCA, on January 20.

Syed Adil Gilani, Chairman, TIP, referring to public notices given by PHA-Maymar JV Company (Pvt) Ltd, has inquired from the Chief Controller whether KBCA had warned the Company for violating the KBCA's building byelaws 2002 by charging higher cancellation charges from public than was mandatory allowed under the byelaws and NOC issued by KBCA.

The builder, in cases of cancellation of booking either by builder or buyer, is allowed to impose penalty of 4 percent on the instalments paid by the allottee. The Company, however, is signing contracts with the allottees with penalty of cancellation @ 10 percent on the cost of the apartment.

The Sindh High Court, comprising Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, on the constitutional petition filed by TIP against the KBCA and the Sindh Government, in September 2009, had directed the KBCA to post all relevant information on construction projects and builders on its website within a week for public knowledge and monitoring.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010