The final take: CDA ordered to move cattle market

IHC directs authority to charge cattle traders as per notification rates

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court, putting an end to the cattle market fiasco, not only ordered the city authorities to move the market from Sector I-11 to its designated site at I-12 but also directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to charge cattle traders as per notification rates.

Justice Athar Minallah passed the order after CDA submitted notifications before the court regarding imposition of taxes over sacrificial animals and shifting of the cattle market from Sector I-11 to I-12.

The court also directed the CDA to keep proper record of receipts.

On Thursday, Justice Minallah directed CDA officials to produce the notifications and related record, adding that an identical matter came before the court last year but it could not be decided because the CDA never submitted the relevant documents in the case.

While adjourning the case for a fortnight, the court directed CDA to produce relevant record in both the cases so that the matter could be decided once and for all.

Four cattle-traders had filed a petition seeking court’s directions to restrain the respondents from shifting the market, charging taxes and stopping offloading of animals in Sector I-11.

CDA chairman, director enforcement, deputy commissioner, director municipal administration and deputy director municipal were listed as respondents. The contractor for the temporary site in Sector I-12 was also named as a respondent.

The petitioners had stated that in the past years, they were provided with a site in Sector I-11, which was moved to Sector I-12 this year. Referring to an IHC order from 2014, the petitioners’ counsel stated that the court had passed an interim order declaring taxes on the sale of sacrificial animals illegal.

The counsel had claimed that the cattle traders were being overcharged. He had also said the government had waived all charges on the selling of sacrificial animals in Punjab.

While directing the CDA to keep proper record of receipts, the court adjourned the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2015.