SC lawyers win back desired plot

CDA allots valuable land to SCBA in red zone after intervention of Yousuf Raza Gilani and Rehman Malik.

ISLAMABAD: The new office of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) can now be constructed in sector G-5/2 -- the red zone area of the capital.

On the intervention of Prime Minister (PM) Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has approved the allotment of a valuable piece of land to the bar association.

Sources inside the Planning Division told The Express Tribune that a letter by a ‘special messenger’ was sent to the civic body over the issue. They said that the interior minister wrote twice to the CDA officials for the allotment of the plot.  Allotment of the aforesaid plot was cancelled back in 2007 during the lawyers’ movement, under the “pretext” of security concern, according to a CDA official.

“Instead, CDA allocated a plot in Mauve area in sector G-11/1 to SCBA, but the association refused to accept this offer,” the official added.

The civic body however, approved the allotment of the ‘demanded piece of land’ in its board meeting on February 1.

The interior minister sent two letters last year, the first one on September 6 and the second one on December 31, urging CDA to allot the G-5 plot to SCBA. These letters were presented in the meeting.

The members of the meeting were also told that PM Gilani had also recommended that the plot be allotted to SCBA. Sources said that given the pressure, CDA had no other option but to approve the recommendations of the PM and the interior minister.

“The planning division sent the details of the matter through a special messenger to the relevant department of the CDA for further action,” said an official.

A copy of the said document is available with The Express Tribune. According to the document, the plot measures 4,000 square yards and is valued at Rs18 million.

Tariq Mehmood, a prominent figure of lawyers’ movement and a close friend of SCBA President Asma Jahangir, when contacted, told The Express Tribune, “It was our right therefore we put this issue before the Interior Minister Rehman Malik.”

To another query, he said it was not a case of special favour because Rehman Malik or PM Gilani were the concerned authorities in this matter therefore the issue was brought to their notice.

“The present government has not succeeded in delivering as per expectations but still it is better than those who wanted to throw the lawyers outside the city,” Mehmood said.

He added that the lawyers’ original demand was for a vacant plot near the near Supreme Court building but due to parking issue they had to accept the plot near Federal Shariat Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2011.