Court stays police, CDA employees eviction

The employees had been directed to vacate G-6/1 flats.

RAWALPINDI: Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench on Wednesday issued a stay order against eviction of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police and Capital Development Authority (CDA) employees from their residences in sector G-6/1. Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh of LHC Rawalpindi Bench directed Deputy Superintendant of Police Islamabad and CDA to respond to the petition filed by the employees against their eviction by January 17, 2011.

ICT Police and CDA employees had filed a petition through their legal counsel Chaudhary Afrasiab Khan challenging the notification issued by the Islamabad Police to vacate their accommodation.

Khan said before the court that under Pakistan Accommodation Allocation rules of 1993 and 2002, these employees have the right to hold officials accommodation under Article 2-A of the constitution.

He said the employees were lawfully inducted and were allowed to permanently
reside in these flats to rid the menace of terrorism from the capital city. “This notice is unjust.”

The legal counsel added that the notification filed by the Islamabad Police did not
even offer alternate accommodations for these employees, which “they are entitled to.”

He pleaded the court to issue allotment letters for these accommodations to the ICT Police and CDA employees and declare the eviction notification illegal and void.

He also requested the court to restrain eviction till the employees are provided alternate accommodation.

The Islamabad Police had issued a notification on August 20 to ICT Police and CDA employees to vacate their residences in sector G-6/1, in which they had been living in since the Lal Masjid incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2010.