In Bani Gala, Sector E-11: SC halts demolition of illegal structures

Directs CDA to conduct survey of all buildings, bans further construction

Days after the civic authority razed several illegal structures in different parts of the capital, the top court on Tuesday halted the regulatory activity. Instead, the civic body was told to conduct a survey of all buildings in the capital and decide whether they should be regularised or not, Express News reported.

In the intervening period, the court imposed a ban on further construction of structures.

This was decided as a full bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Umar Ata Bandial, heard on Tuesday a petition against a verdict passed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

During Tuesday’s hearing, the top court gave the Capital Development Authority (CDA) six months to review all buildings in these areas and to submit bi-monthly progress reports before the bench.

Upholding IHC’s order to halt on-going construction, Justice Nisar warned that if current structures rise by even an inch, they will be treated as committing contempt of court.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Waseem Sajjad, said it was unclear who controlled the area. “The CDA has not acquired the land yet the IHC declared it to be under CDA’s jurisdiction,” he said.

CJP Nisar though dismissed the argument, noting that the area does fall under CDA’s regulatory authority.

“No construction can begin without CDA’s permission,” said Justice Nisar as he observed that if the area falls under the demarcation of the capital’s master plan, then it is ostensibly controlled by the CDA.

The IHC had in July ordered the demolition of all buildings and structures being built in the upscale Bani Gala or in Sector E-11 (Golra Revenue Estate) in violation of the capital’s master plan.

A three-member larger bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, had allowed all petitions challenging the construction of different buildings in Bani Gala and Sector E-11.

The bench divided petitions against high-rise buildings and other buildings of commercial nature in the capital into category-A (Bani Gala) and category-B (Sector E-11).

“We allow these petitions and declare that construction of houses or buildings of any nature, whether in the Golra Revenue Estate (Sector E-11) or the area comprising Bani Gala which have been or are intended to be constructed in violation of the master plan, the Ordinance of 1960, the Zoning Regulations of 1992, the Ordinance of 1966 and the Wildlife Ordinance of 1979, as the case may be, are illegal, without lawful authority and jurisdiction and thus liable to be demolished as mandated under the Ordinance of 1960 and the regulations made thereunder,” the bench stated in the judgment.

Following the court’s verdict, the CDA in late August and early September started demolishing illegal structures across the city, including illegal marriage marquees built along the Kashmir Highway.

Several establishments erected on the right-of-way (RoW) of the Kashmir Highway, a majority of them marquees, were razed using heavy machinery, as senior CDA, Islamabad district administration and local police officials witnessed the dozers tear the buildings down.

According to the CDA, during its anti-encroachment operations on Sunday, 25 illegally-built structures or those in violation of CDA’s building regulations were demolished including marquees, hotels, markets and houses.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2018.