Govt running country through ordinances: Justice Isa

SC judge laments lack of debate on bills in parliament

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court’s Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Wednesday observed that the government wanted to run the affairs of the country by issuing ordinances.

“What is the need for democracy then? There hasn’t been any debate in parliament on bills,” he remarked during the hearing of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Housing Society case.

“The ordinance [giving the status of authority to the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation] was issued in July and nobody debated on the issue in the National Assembly. We are still trapped in a mindset typical of that during martial law,” he added.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam heard the case.



Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan remarked that apparently, the matter involved the cost of land spread over 600 canals and the court could decide the case if the foundation reached an agreement with the people affected by the housing scheme.

When asked about the foundation’s willingness to pay the affected people, its counsel said that was not possible now as the government had already issued a presidential ordinance in July giving the status of authority to the foundation.

SCBA President Amanullah Kanrani informed the court that lawyers had already paid the money to the housing foundation and that the issue was different from the matter concerning land in Islamabad sector I-14. He requested the court to treat the two matters differently. The hearing of the case was adjourned till Monday.



Earlier this year, six top court judges recused themselves from hearing a case related to scrapping a federal government housing scheme in F-14 and F-15 sectors of the federal capital. Judges, powerful bureaucrats, influential lawyers, and journalists are among the beneficiaries of the scheme.

In 2017, the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) incumbent Chief Justice Athar Minallah decided petitions filed against the acquisition of land for these sectors and asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take over developing housing schemes and judiciously dispense the plots after developing the two sectors.

Later, a division bench of the IHC also dismissed an appeal of the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF). In December last year, the matter was taken up by the Supreme Court as former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar granted leave to appeal.

However, six apex court judges recused themselves from hearing the case for different reasons. Of the six judges, three judges preferred not to adjudicate the matter as they had applied for plots in the scheme.

According to the FGEHF list available on its website, seven serving SC judges had applied for plots in that scheme. CJP Asif Saeed Khosa then formed a three-judge special bench, led by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, to hear the case.