The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is preparing to seal the offices of 40 illegal housing societies in Islamabad within the next week, ending more than two and a half months of delay in enforcing its own orders.

The CDA Planning Wing issued notices on 21 August to seal the offices of the 40 societies, whose layout plans were cancelled after they failed to meet the terms of their approved plans within three years. Despite the notices, no office had been sealed by late October, prompting a senior Planning Wing officer to write to colleagues on 23 October describing the delay as alarming and directing immediate action.

The Enforcement Directorate has now decided to carry out the operation with the help of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration and Islamabad Police, so that the sealing can proceed smoothly. Deputy directors in the Planning Wing have been directed to implement the sealing orders at once.

Why the crackdown, and why now

The 40 societies are accused of breaching approved layout plans or extending their schemes without permission. Under CDA rules, a housing scheme may only market and sell plots once its layout plan is approved and a no-objection certificate (NOC) is issued. Schemes that sell plots without those approvals leave buyers exposed, because the land may not be developed as advertised and the investment carries no official backing.

The sealing drive is part of a wider CDA effort against unauthorised housing in the capital. In a separate public notice dated 3 November, the authority named 143 private housing schemes operating without CDA approval, along with 13 approved schemes whose extensions were carried out illegally. The notice warned sponsors to stop marketing and building, and to apply for layout plans and NOCs, or face sealing, demolition, blocked access roads and referral to investigating agencies.

Islamabad's housing market has long been troubled by unauthorised schemes, particularly along Lehtrar Road, Simly Dam Road and other corridors in Zones 2, 4 and 5, where plots are advertised and sold before approvals are in place. The CDA has urged buyers to check whether a scheme is approved before paying any money, using its online verification service and the lists published on its website.

What happens next

The operation is expected to begin within a week, with enforcement teams sealing the marketing and site offices of the 40 societies named in the August notices. The CDA has not yet published the full list of the 40 schemes covered by this round of sealing, and it has not said whether any office has been sealed since the 23 October letter.

For buyers, the message from the authority is to verify approval status first. A scheme's presence on the CDA's illegal list does not by itself prove wrongdoing by any individual seller, and the CDA notice sets out a process for sponsors to regularise their position. But until a scheme holds an approved layout plan and an NOC, the CDA says plots sold in its name are being sold without its permission. For the original reporting, see The News on the sealing operation and TechJuice on the one-week deadline.