PTI yet again gets IHC relief

Court orders CDA to de-seal party’s central secretariat

KARACHI:

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday ordered the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to immediately de-seal PTI’s central secretariat in the federal capital.

This is yet another occasion when the IHC has shown a soft corner for the PTI as a day earlier, the court had acquitted party’s founding chairman Imran Khan and leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case.

The CDA sealed the party’s central office on May 24 over illegal constructions and encroachments.
Accepting the PTI’s plea, the court noted that the authority had not issued any notice prior to the order to seal the party’s central secretariat.

It added that the CDA had neither sent the order to seal the office to the party, nor its copy.
In the IHC’s reserved verdict, Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz ordered the immediate de-sealing of the PTI central office.

“[The] CDA has relied upon [a] notice dated 5/9/2022 and show cause notice dated 4/9/2023 to show that [the] sealing order dated 10/5/2024 was passed after complying with all pre-requisites under Regulation 2.17 of the regulations, 2020 as well as in the compliance of natural justice requirements.

Strangely enough, the show cause notice dated 4/9/2023 refers to [the] notice dated 14/6/2022 which was issued to the previous owner of the subject premises namely, Mr Sartaj Ali,” it read.

“It is noteworthy that admittedly the subject premises stood transferred in the name of the petitioner party vide transfer letter dated 30/7/2020. Yet no explanation has been offered by [the] CDA to explain why such letter was sent to the previous owner at his residence and not the petitioner party as the subject premises which is admittedly the current owner of the subject premises a per [the] CDA record.

There is also no explanation why the show cause notice dated 4/9/2023 does not refer to the notice purportedly sent to the owner/occupant at the subject premises on 5/9/2022,” it continued.

“No receipt of the service of such notice/show cause notice is on record. In view of the foregoing it is clear that a register maintained by [the] CDA is not sufficient proof of service and no purpose will be served by calling for the same. [The] CDA has failed to establish that the sealing of the subject property was carried out after issuance of the mandatory notices and passing of sealing order as per the various provisions of the CDA Ordinance and its regulations and which is also a requirement of natural justice that has to be read into every statute as per settled law.”

A day earlier, PTI lawyer Shoaib Shaheen argued before the court that the CDA had included all the notices in their record but not mentioned the current one.

Accusing the CDA of committing fraud, the lawyer contended that the authority had not sent the notices to the PTI but to the land owner Sartaj Ali.

CDA lawyer Hafiz Arafat took the stand that the PTI had accepted buying a commercial land, accusing the party of using it for political use.

He added that the people living around the secretariat were being the affected and the PTI had illegally constructed a floor on the land which was against the permission granted. The court later reserved the verdict.