KARACHI: A delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by its President Sheikh Amir Waheed called on Zulfiqar Haider, Chief Commissioner, Islamabad Capital Territory in his office and apprised him of the key issues of business community that required his urgent attention. Muhammad Khalid Khattack, IG Police, Islamabad was also present at the occasion. Muhammad Naveed Senior Vice President, Nisar Ahmed Mirza Vice President ICCI, M. Ejaz Abbasi, Ms. Fatima Azeem, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari and others were in the delegation.
Speaking at the occasion, Sheikh Amir Waheed, President ICCI highlighted the issue of low value of stamp paper due to which property business was facing problems. He said value of property in Islamabad was now assessed at FBR rate instead of old DC rate while the maximum value of stamp paper was Rs.24,000/-. He said that due to manifold hike in the value of property at FBR rate, large number of stamp papers were required to be used for registration of property which caused lot of paper wastage and created hassles for the property business. He stressed that the minimum value of stamp paper for property cases should be increased to Rs.100,000/- or the method of Punjab Government should be adopted to minimize the problems of property business. He also emphasized that the condition of stamp paper for family transfer cases of property should be abolished which was transferred as gift to family members. If it was not possible, then the previous practice of one third value should be restored to provide relief to the family transfer cases.
Muhammad Naveed Senior Vice President and Nisar Ahmed Mirza Vice President ICCI said that Pakistan Standards & Control Authority was conducting raids on retail outlets in Islamabad which has created concerns in the business community and sought the cooperation of Chief Commissioner to stop such raids. They said that if PSQCA had any genuine complaint against any retailer on account of standard or quality, it should first take ICCI on board so that such issues could be resolved with mutual efforts.
Addressing the delegation, Zulfiqar Haider, Chief Commissioner ICT said that business community was playing important role in promoting the economy and he would extend all possible cooperation to resolve its key issues. He assured that the problems regarding low value of stamp paper and PSQCA raids on retailers would be looked into to find out their optimum solutions. Both sides discussed the issue of presence of district courts in F-8 due to which traders and citizens of the areas were facing difficulties. It was resolved that ICCI and ICT Administration would maintain close liaison to address the issues of business community and play role for the better development of the city.
