ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday rejected a plea against the Financial Institution (Recovery of Finances) Amendment Act, removing a major obstacle in the way of the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme

The court, while rejecting the plea, termed section 15 of the act according to the law. Leading the bench hearing the case, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed also scolded the applicant over filing the plea.

“You people do not return the banks’ money and have now come here to challenge the law,” the top SC judge said as section 15 of the financial institutions act permits banks to auction the property of a person in case of non-payment of loan dues.

The pending appeal at the apex court hindered the process of bank financing for the Naya Pakistan Housing Project as no bank was ready to finance the project before the court’s decision.

In July this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that the federal government will provide around 0.3 million subsidies on each house to be constructed under the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme.

The prime minister was told that as a result of the ongoing projects 26,625 housing units will be constructed at the cost of Rs. 213.4 billion. Whereas under the projects of the years 2020 and 2021, 25,017 and 39,955 housing units would be constructed at the estimated costs of Rs. 112.03 and Rs. 184 billion, respectively.

The premier made the announcement for allocating Rs30 billion funds for providing subsidy on the construction of each house under the Naya Pakistan Housing Program (NPHP).