IHC issues stay order on land acquisition for SCBAHS

Govt officials given fortnight to submit para-wise responses

ISLAMABAD: In a blow to the developers and investors, the Islamabad High Court on Monday granted a stay against the acquisition of land for the Supreme Court Bar Association Housing Society (SCBAHS) in the capital.

Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notices to Islamabad’s Chief Commissioner, Land Acquisition Collector, Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) director general, Capital Development Authority (CDA), ICT Cooperatives Department registrar, Ministry of Interior secretary, Cabinet Division secretary, Finance Division secretary and the Ministry of Housing & Works secretary. He directed them to submit para-wise comments in a fortnight.

Justice Minallah issued the stay order after the Government Officers Cooperative Farming Society, through their counsel Saeed Khurshid Ahmed, filed a petition stating that the SCBAHS had acquired 8,194 Kanals and 15 Marlas of land in Mouza Tamma and Mohrian situated in Zone-IV of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) in contravention of the Land Acquisition Act 1984 (LAA), and due procedure of law.

The SCBA had managed to get a ‘directive’ from former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf during his last days in power to set up the cooperative housing society. Later, they had filed a petition before the apex court for the execution of the premier’s order.

The counsel said that the Land Acquisition Collector (LAC) had notified acquisition of land under section 4 of the Act on April 29, 2015, following a requisition from the FGEHF for setting up a housing scheme for members of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

The notification of the acquisition was subsequently published in the extraordinary Gazette of Pakistan on May 2, 2015.

Khurshid argued that the petitioner, along with hundreds of objectors, had filed objections against the notification under section 4 before the LAC. But the objections remained in abeyance despite numerous reminders.

The LAC, he said, finally published the impugned land acquisition notification on October 28, 2016, under section 17 (4) and 6 of the LAA for acquiring the land.

The LAC finally became a party in the case in Supreme Court.

The application, however, was disposed of as infructuous. A review petition was also dismissed by the apex court on technical grounds without formal adjudication of the grievance raised by the petitioner.

Khurshid argued that the petitioner has yet to receive any remedy.

“The issue involved in this petition is very important as it involves the grievance of the petitioner and around 20,000-25,000 people living in the land, area acquired through notification of acquisition,” the petition read.

It added that after the objections were disposed of by the LAC on October 6, 2017, the chief commissioner approved it the same day without even asking the LAC for passing a speaking order against all 30 objections listed in the order.

Moreover, it said that agreement for the acquisition was not signed between the foundation and the chief commissioner as per the mandatory requirement of section 41 of the LAA, he said.

“Wrong law was invoked for the acquisition of land and that too was applied in a wrong way,” Khurshid said, adding that the total cost of acquisition has yet to be deposited by the foundation with the LAC.

Unfortunately, he continued, the foundation started the financial venture and that too by way of having recourse to illegal acquisition for establishing a housing scheme for around 3,000 members of the SCBA on parity basis which was never directed by the former premier.

He urged the court to declare the impugned notification for acquisition of the land as illegal and to direct the respondents to not proceed further in taking possession of the land.

The court while issuing a stay order issued notices and sought a reply from respondents in a fortnight.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2017.