Sector F-8 resident in Islamabad wants end to schools in area

IHC issues notices to CDA, PIERA, private educational institutions

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday issued notices to the capital’s civic agency, a private schools body and some private educational institutions located in Sector F-8 seeking their response on a petition demanding action against the institutes for allegedly destroying ‘peace of mind and right of tranquillity’ in the area.

Justice Aamer Farooq issued notices to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Private Institutions Educational Regulatory Authority (PIERA) and some private educational institutions and sought reply within a fortnight.

Petitioner Anjum Mubashar, through his counsel Yasir Mehmood Chaudhry, had approached the IHC claiming that the presence of private schools and colleges in the area was causing severe traffic jams since vehicles were parked on the roads and in the streets to pick and drop students.

The petitioner said that the clamour starts early in the morning at 8am with horns blowing and loudspeakers blaring. This cacophony lasts until 1pm and the cycle repeats every day.

“[They] have destroyed the peace of mind and right of tranquillity of the petitioner,” the counsel argued.

The non-conforming use of the property by setting up private schools, colleges and tuition academies in residential houses of Sector F-8 by the respondents (educational institutions) is a flagrant violation of Islamabad’s master plan, CDA’s by-laws and the Islamabad Residential Sector Zoning (Building Control) Regulation 2005, Chaudhry argued.

Chaudhry added that the respondents were not performing their due role for the “prevention of this horrible menace” and the commercial activity set-up in the form of educational institutions in the residential area was at its peak.

In the petition, Chaudhry said that the petitioner had sent an application to CDA and PIERA on March 18 to resolve the grievances of residents but “it felt that the mentioned State Machinery are only the promoters of commercial establishments in a purely residential Sector F-8”.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2017.