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DHA initiates legal action against ‘illegal’ association
* DHA bars Residents Association from charity drives
* Spokesman says RA illegal after DHA became housing authority
By Afnan Khan
LAHORE: Declaring the registered body of its residents — the
Residents Association (RA) — illegal, the Defence Housing Authority
(DHA) administration has issued a legal notice to one of its
leaders, warning him to halt activities related to the RA.
The DHA issued a legal notice to former RA secretary general Lt Col
(r) Ashfaq Amjad a few weeks ago in which the administration
demanded that Amjad stop using his residence as the head office of
the RA. It also claimed that the political activities being
conducted at the residence were in violation of the bylaws of the
community. The notice, issued by the DHA legal adviser, warned that
all civic facilities available to the residence, including its water
supply, could be suspended.
No relief: The DHA administration has also barred the RA from
conducting charity drives to collect relief goods for the internally
displaced persons (IDPs) of Swat and Malakand division. RA
Patron-in-chief Rohail Ikram said the DHA was wrong to take such
action, and demanded the authority withdraw its legal notice. He
said the association reserved the right to contact a higher court
for justice if the administration did not cooperate.
On the matter of the relief camps, he said the RA had conducted
similar activities after the 2005 earthquake, adding they had sent
dozens of trucks containing essential items including medicine,
clothes, and edibles to the quake-affected areas. “The DHA is the
most elite residential facility of the city, and its residents,
being more privileged, donated more than the residents of any other
locality in Lahore. Barring them from continuing relief activities
is not only an infringement on a resident’s rights, but has also
deprived the IDPs of relief items,” he added.
No legal standing: Ikram said the RA is a registered body that has
been operating in the area for more than two decades. He said all
senior officials of the DHA used to visit the association’s events
and acknowledged it in the past. However, DHA spokesman Tajamul
Hussain Anjum said the DHA had never recognised the RA, because it
was registered under the Residential Societies Act. He said it had
lost all legal standing when the DHA was declared a housing
authority.
The spokesman said the administration did not accept the existence
of the RA, nor was it planning to take any legal action against
them. He said the administration has allowed Edhi, Shaukat Khanam
and other such credible agencies to organise relief efforts in the
area.
The RA has been operational in the DHA since 1982. It claims to be
the representative of more than 6,000 residents of the housing
authority, with a membership of 400. The body demands its say in the
bylaws and development of the DHA
Daily Times:
Saturday, June 06, 2009 |
