LAHORE – The government has imposed a fine of Rs10 million on a Lahore-based real estate company, owned by Aleem Khan, for fraud and misleading advertisements.
Official documents of Competitive Commission of Pakistan show Vision Developers had obtained the approval of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) for a housing society – River Edge Housing Scheme.
The company subsequently applied for NOC from the LDA for a new housing scheme – Park View Villas – which was denied by LDA for being located close to a riverbank, which could be prone to flooding.
Despite this, Vision Developers advertised the new unapproved scheme under the deceptive name of ‘Park View Villas at River Edge Housing Society’, giving the impression that the new scheme was an extension of the earlier-approved River Edge Housing Scheme.
Thus, the competitive commission of Pakistan issued a show cause notice to M/s Vision Developers after the parties appeared for the case on different hearing dates. The order duly signed by Chairperson Ms. Vadiyya S. Khalil states, the Commission holds that the unsubstantiated claims of the respondent have potential of creating unfairly.
In recent times, the Commission has become vary of the prevalent practice of deceptive marketing and misleading advertisement specifically in the real estate industry and how such conduct is perceived by consumers in terms of their transactional decision to their own financial detriment. The importance of responsible and accurate advertising in relation to real estate should not, in any circumstance, be undermined. The real estate plays a very vital role in the development of any country’s economy as a number of other associated sectors have close links with this sector.
Keeping in view the crime, conduct of M/s Vision Developers calls for a higher penalty, show cause notice stated. Commission imposed a penalty of PKR 10 million.
The commission also directed Aleem Khan owned Vision Developers to publish clarifications that Park View Villas is not a housing scheme approved by LDA, for a period of one week in 2 English and 2 Urdu dailies.
