Court declares sale of cantonment land illegal

The Rawalpindi High Court's Division Bench, consisting of Justice Muhammad Sajid Mehmood Sethi and Justice Jawad Hassan, has declared the sale of 108 kanal 7 marla land in the cantonment area as illegal. The land had been sold on behalf of an intelligence agency by converting it into plots.

The court has ordered the construction of public welfare projects on this land, including hospitals, schools, colleges, and recreational parks, and mandated that these projects be completed within three months. The verdict was reserved last week and announced on Thursday, October 3. This public welfare petition had been pending for 16 years.

Justice Farrukh Irfan, presiding as a single bench judge at the Rawalpindi High Court, initially delivered the ruling. The Cantonment Board and the Ministry of Defense subsequently filed an intra-court appeal against the verdict, but the Division Bench upheld the original decision.