Business structure for G&C Club sought

SC gives interim management 90 days to prepare draft

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday directed the interim management of the Gun and Country Club to formulate a business structure for the club within three months.

This was directed on Tuesday by a three-member bench of the SC, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, while hearing a case about the Gun and Country Club in the federal capital.

During the hearing, Justice Bandial remarked that if the Gun and Country Club becomes operational, it will primarily benefit its members.

He added that the court will see how the interim administration runs the club, adding that the matter will remain pending until a permanent structure for the club has been developed.

Lawyer Naeem Bukhari told the court that a female minister wanted to become the president of the club, adding that as much as Rs300 million were collected by the club.

At this, Justice Bandial appreciated Bukhari and said that the club’s financials have moved from a negative position to a positive position under the interim management.

He hoped that the club will sustain the same spirit in the future as well.

The hearing of the case was then adjourned for three months.

Earlier, the SC had asked the Federal Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ministry to form an interim-management committee of the club comprising active members.

The ministry had sent to the federal cabinet names of Naeem Bukhari, Maria Sharif, Lt Col (r) Haroon Imam, Dr Fahad Haroon Aziz, Syed Muhammad Irfan, Ahsan Iqbal Bhatti as the principal nominees, while the remaining three other members will be secretary of the IPC ministry, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) director-general.

The SC had taken suo motu notice of the allotment of land for the Gun and Country Club in 2011. In an order dated July 9, 2018, the top court had ordered the IPC to take over the management of the club and appointed an interim managing committee.

The court had further said that since a resolution for the establishment of Gun & Country Club was not issued by a competent authority and that there was no charter for it, the resolution had no legal validity or sanctity.

Subsequently, the SC on November 2018, appointed another management committee, which mostly consisting of private members.

The tenure of the management committee has been extended to November 19, 2020. Moreover, the apex court had directed the federal government to complete its process for proposing a lawful and practical legal framework for the management of the club.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2020.