SC orders CDA to allot land for hospital

CJP says Bahrain government is desperate to give Rs10b for nursing university

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Central Development Authority (CDA) to allot land by Saturday for the construction of a 200-bed hospital in Tarlai.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, was hearing a suo motu case regarding lack of hospitals in Islamabad.

At the onset, the federal health secretary informed the bench that they were making a 200–bed hospital but the CDA had not allotted the land, adding that the government of Bahrain was supposed to establish a nursing university.

Chief justice Nisar said there was an issue of non-allotment of land by the CDA.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan replied CDA had to allot 237 canals of land.

The CDA lawyer apprised the bench that due to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) inquiry into the matter the land could not be allotted.



This irked the CJP, who said let’s end the NAB chairman’s exemption from hearings as a former judge.

The CJP said, “Is the court order important for the CDA or NAB’s? The NAB chairman and prosecutor general must immediately come to the chamber.”

The CJP wondered whether there was a standard for NAB investigation or not.

“The Bahrain government is desperate to give Rs10 billion. Are only NAB people honest and truthful?”

The NAB prosecutor general appeared in the chambers and told that the bureau had not issued any notice to CDA, adding that on the hospital land, there was an internal inquiry open.

The court directed the CDA to immediately call a board meeting and take the decision.

Reprimanding CDA Member State Khushal Khan Khattak for misleading the court, the chief justice remarked that he had misled the court before too; therefore, a letter to the prime minister should be written requesting his immediate removal from service.

The court adjourned the hearing.