SC overturns IHC's decision on plot allotment to judges and bureaucrats

IHC had ruled the plot allotment scheme for retired judges and senior bureaucrats unconstitutional.

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The Supreme Court has overturned the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) decision regarding the allotment of plots to judges and bureaucrats in sectors F-14 and F-15 of Islamabad.

The apex court, while announcing the reserved judgment on the case, accepted the appeal of the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority. The court also directed the Islamabad High Court to review the matter again.

A three-member bench, led by Justice Muneeb Akhtar, had reserved the judgment on May 21. Justice Ayesha Malik, a member of the bench, delivered the brief reserved judgment.

The Islamabad High Court had previously declared the plot allotment scheme for retired judges and senior bureaucrats in sectors F-14 and F-15 unconstitutional.

The reserved judgment on the case was announced after six months.

Previously in may the Supreme Court reserved its judgment on petitions challenging the IHC verdict that annulled the new policy of allotting government plots to civil servants, generals, and journalists in sectors F-14 and F-15 of the federal capital.

The court also allowed parties to submit written submissions within the next three weeks, if desired.

Around 35 serving and retired government employees had appealed the IHC's ruling. On February 3, 2022, former IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, while hearing a petition filed by Ednan Syed and others against the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF), had struck down the new policy. This policy aimed to allot plots to civil servants, judges, generals, and journalists in the federal capital.

The IHC had ruled that the revised policy and the related scheme for sectors F-12, G-12, F-14, and F-15 violated public interest and infringed upon the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the general public.

Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman also voiced opposition to the IHC judgment, stating that a Supreme Court bench had previously ruled in favour of using the housing society for public purposes.

He noted that the High Court had upheld the decision of its single-member bench, thereby scrapping the entire scheme. The revised policy, he explained, was initially approved by the Federal Cabinet on the High Court's direction.

Rehman further argued that the housing scheme did not result in any financial loss to the public, adding that the High Court had made its decision without notifying the Attorney General.