Capital Development Authority Ordinance (CDA), 1960

This 1960 Ordinance creates the Capital Development Authority (CDA), the body responsible for planning and developing Islamabad. Section 3 lets the Federal Government declare part of a defined "Specified Area" (listed in the Schedule) to be the actual "Capital Site." Section 4 establishes CDA as a body corporate that can sue, be sued, and hold property, and Section 5 vests its general direction and administration in a Board, which acts on sound town-planning principles but must follow Federal Government policy directions. Section 6 sets the Board's composition (at least three members appointed by the Federal Government, including a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Financial Advisor), with the Chairman and Financial Advisor serving five-year terms and other members four-year terms.

Chapter III gives CDA broad powers to prepare and execute development schemes: Section 11 covers master-plans, Sections 12-14 cover how schemes are prepared (by CDA itself or by local bodies), Section 16 gives it borrowing powers, and Sections 19-21 let it amend schemes and remove buildings after a hearing.

Chapter IV is devoted to compulsory land acquisition for development purposes: Section 22 establishes which land is liable to acquisition, Section 23 allows entry for preliminary survey, Sections 25-32 set out the process for acquiring land, calculating compensation, and vesting the land in CDA, and Section 33 allows acquisition in cases of urgency. Section 36 provides for appeal and review of acquisition decisions.

Chapter V covers CDA's staff (Sections 37-39, including that officers are deemed public servants) and indemnity for good-faith acts (Section 40). Chapter VI covers CDA's own finances -- its Fund (Section 42), budget (Section 43), and audit (Section 44). Chapter VII creates offences and enforcement tools specific to CDA, including a general penalty (Section 46), penalties for damaging CDA property (Section 46A) or disobeying orders (Section 46B), and summary trial of these offences (Section 46D). Chapter VIII gives CDA power to dispose of land (Section 49), summarily evict unauthorized occupants (Section 49B), and remove illegally erected buildings (Section 49C), while Section 49E bars ordinary courts from certain CDA matters. Section 52 allows the Authority to eventually be dissolved, with its assets and liabilities transferred to the Federal Government or another agency.

This Ordinance is over sixty years old and, per the extract's footnotes, has been amended several times (including by the Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975, and Acts of 1966, 1968, and 1999, notably around the land-compensation "market value" formula). Anyone relying on specific compensation formulas, fee amounts, or land-value dates should check the current official text.