Court ruling: IHC dismisses guesthouse owners’ petition against CDA

Boutiques, beauty parlours also challenged the authority’s actions


Rizwan Shehzad September 22, 2016
Boutiques, beauty parlours also challenged the authority’s actions. PHOTO: EXPRESS

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court dismissed petitions related to nonconforming use of property located in the federal capital.

Justice Aamer Farooq dismissed the petitions of 70 guesthouse proprietors who, along with others, challenged the Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s notices. They alleged nonconforming use and violation of the Islamabad Residential Sectors Zoning (Building Control) Regulations, 2005, and the CDA Ordinance, 1960.



Apart from them, several restaurants, boutiques, beauty parlours and think-tank institutes challenged the CDA actions. The authority issued notices to these entities on account of the commercial use of residential properties.

The proprietors said the authority issued notices without mentioning the precise nature of the offense and threatened to demolish their premises.

Their counsel, Mohammad Akram Sheikh, said the petitioners, being private individuals, were providing bed and breakfast facilities in different sectors.

“The notice fails to indicate what is considered as nonconforming use,” he stated. Sheikh added notices stated that if the petitioners did not halt their business, the premises would be sealed and heavy fines imposed.  He said the case of the petitioners was limited to the use of a residential building as a guesthouse providing bed and breakfast facility. He reiterated that they did not use the property for any other purpose.

He added accommodation for paying guests at a residential building was a lawful activity and does not constitute as an offense. Therefore, it cannot be considered nonconforming use. The petitioners said residential buildings have not even been defined in the CDA Ordinance, 1960, while the word “building” has a broad meaning.

They also maintained that the actions of CDA were opposed to public policy and certainly not beneficial to the people at large.

Since 2001, just over 2,000 proprietors were running commercial or nonconforming activities in their respective premises. When the CDA started its crackdown, they obtained a stay order from the court.



In June 2014, IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui set aside all stay orders and ordered the CDA to enforce its writ. Later in January 2015, the IHC empowered the civic body to complete the process of eviction of commercial outlets from residential sectors. However, action could not be taken because the matter had reached the Supreme Court.

In October 2015, the apex court converted the petitions into appeals, set aside the impugned judgment and sent the cases back to the high court for a fresh decision after considering all relevant provisions of regulations and the ordinance.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2016.

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