‘Let justice be done though the heavens may fall’

Says laws, which were supposed to protect rights of citizens, have been used as tools to abuse those very rights

ISLAMABAD: As a three-member larger bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed to demolish all illegal buildings in Sector E-11 and Bani Gala, it observed that the destruction and damage caused to the capital’s master plan has solely benefited the privileged classes —the exact antithesis of the vision of the founding planners of the city.

“The victims of this destruction [of the master plan] have been none other than the lower income groups and, most serious of all, the landscape and environment,” the IHC’s larger bench, comprising Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, noted in the judgment.

The bench has noted: “Laws, which were supposed to protect the rights of the citizens, have been used as tools to abuse those very rights.”

Reiterating the judicial maxim of ‘justice delayed is justice denied’, it noted that it is never too late to put an end to the perpetuation of injustice.

“Fiat justitia ruat caelum (Let justice be done though the heavens may fall),” the judges stated.

In the judgment, the bench said that they could not stop themselves from recording their observations regarding the alarming and abysmal state of the rule of law in the Islamabad Capital Territory where several laws, despite being on the statute books, are not being enforced.

“The master plan, which had taken care of all the essential factors particularly preservation of the landscape and protection of the environment, has been ruthlessly damaged and destroyed by the public functionaries entrusted with the onerous task to hold it as a trust on behalf of the people of Pakistan,” the judges declared.

So much so, they said, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) — which was its custodian, “brazenly acknowledges that in many areas it can no longer be implemented.”

While accounting for the victims – the lower income groups, the landscape and environment – the court has held that it is an inexcusable failure of the state and its institutions to fulfil its fiduciary duties and obligations to ensure that all citizens of the country are treated equally.

“The destruction and damage caused to the master plan have solely benefited the privileged classes which are exactly the opposite to the vision of the founding planners of Islamabad,” the judgment read, “The larger public interest ought to prevail.”

The judges said that they have been consistently observing and reiterating that “Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, has become a classic example of the rule of men rather than the rule of law.”

They also warned that the brewing environmental crisis, unregulated urbanization and illegal construction can neither be taken lightly nor ignored.



“All those who have allowed this to happen ought to be held accountable because they have endangered lives and have not been fair to the future generations,” the order read.

“The doctrine of necessity is alien to the rule of law.”

Saving the environment from further destruction and degradation must take precedence over the interests of a few, the court said, adding that “there must not be any hesitation in bringing down any illegal structure if there exists even the remotest possibility of damage to the environment. It is the larger public interest that must prevail.”

If urgent steps are not taken then posterity will never forgive those who today are in a position to enforce and implement the spirit and essence of laws which have been flagrantly and mercilessly violated for more than seven decades, they concluded. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2018.