‘Islamabad Police occupying 200 CDA quarters’

Authority’s counsel tells SC even police chief living in illegally occupied house

ISLAMABAD: Police chief of the federal capital was living in an illegally occupied house of Capital Development Authority (CDA), the counsel of the authority told Supreme Court on Thursday adding that 200 of its houses were also under forced occupation of Islamabad police.

The apex court has ordered all provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) to submit a new progress report on illegal occupation of government-owned houses.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial was hearing the case pertaining to illegal allotment of government-owned houses on Thursday.

At the outset of hearing, Justice Bandial asked the related officials regarding the government houses to which the counsel for CDA said Islamabad police were occupying some 200 quarters owned by CDA while Islamabad IGP was living in an illegally occupied house.

Justice Bandial remarked that the issue was very sensitive and said that they would hear the arguments of other lawyers in the case too.

The court directed to submit a report within two months regarding the current situation of government-owned houses across the country with details of how many of them were illegally occupied whereas cases of how many of them were under proceeding in the courts.

SC tells CDA to come up with feasible solution for One Constitution Avenue

Degree verification

The task of degree verification was given to a gardener, Acting Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said chiding Ministry for Inter-Provincial Coordination secretary on Thursday.

The Supreme Court Thursday expressed annoyance over Secretary (IPC) in fake degrees attestation case.

A two-member SC bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar heard the case.

Acting Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said that bogus and fake degrees were sent to foreign embassies.

He asked whether government institutions are the personal inheritance of officers. He said that the issue of degree verification was handed over to a mali (gardener). Such attitudes have brought the country to the brink, he added. He asked are the government officers working for vehicles,  plots and concessions?

The counsel for IPC ministry said that the matter had been forwarded to the Federal Investigation Agency for inquiry.

The court directed the Secretary IPC to ensure that this would not happen in the future. The Secretary shall be personally responsible if such incident occurs again, he added.

CDA officials suspended for looking the other way

Petition filed against Metro Bus closure

A petition was submitted in the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Thursday over the closure of Metro Bus service in twin cities for the last 10 days.

The petition, submitted by Advocate Malik Saleh Muhammad stated that MBS which provided transport service to the residents of twin cities had been closed for the last 10 days due to JUI-F sit-in the federal capital.

It argued that around 40,000 people including students, government officials and office workers besides shopkeepers and traders travelled on Metro Bus daily. Closure of service was casing difficulties for commuters.

It further stated that private transporters, taking advantage of the closure of Metro Bus service, were charging high fares from people.

The petitioner requested the court to order the authorities concerned to restore the Metro Bus service.