High profile figures, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, feature among the affectees of the apartments whose construction on One Constitution Avenue of Islamabad has been declared illegal and void by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
Other affectees include former Supreme Court chief justice Nasirul Mulk, ex-foreign secretary Salman Bashir, former commerce minister Ahmed Mukhtar, former naval chief Muhammad Asif Sandila, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Ashraf Wathra, former member of the National Assembly Kashmala Tariq, activist and actress Feryal Ali Gauhar, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) Chairman Absar Alam, Jahangir Khan, Haris Khan Toru, Rashid Khan, Shazia Hafeez Shaikh, Muhammad Hashim Khan, Dr Asad Zia, Shiekh Amir Waheed, Shahzad Waseem, Mehboobul Haque, Naseem Zehra Ikhlaq and Khawaja Muhammad Asad, former Lahore High Court chief justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry, Minister of State Jam Kamal Khan, and retired lieutenant general Ahsan Azhar Hayat.
IHC judge Justice Athar Minallah, who authored the judgment of single judge bench, was conscious of the situation that the 240 buyers of the apartments in the prestigiously located multistoreyed twin residential towers will face due to his decision. He wrote that widows, retired officials and many expatriates were among the 240 victims who had been deceived that the two buildings were being built lawfully. They had been robbed of their hard earned savings owing to the regulatory failure and negligence of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the federal government. It is the duty of the CDA and the government to ensure that their right to the extent of being compensated is protected and enforced.
In the light of the decision, the CDA and central government will have to devise a mechanism to recover from the former allottee the hefty money paid by the buyers of apartments for returning it to them. It may not be happening very soon because the ruling may be challenged before the division bench of the IHC and in case it was upheld before the Supreme Court subsequently. Such complicated matters take a long time to be fully resolved. The same was the case regarding payment of compensation to the owners of the Margalla Tower, F-10, that collapsed in the 2005 killer earthquake.
The judge observed that those who bought the flats would not have fallen into the trap had the federal government and the CDA not been negligent or complicit. It is, therefore, the duty of the federal government to ensure that the purchasers do not suffer due to their wrongful actions and omissions, particularly when the regulatory failure of the CDA stands admitted.
Justice Athar Minallah wrote that the construction of residential apartments on the plot and their purported sale is illegal, void and in flagrant abuse and violation of the CDA Ordinance of 1960 read with the Zoning Regulations, Building Regulations and the Building Control Regulations. He bound the CDA and the federal government to ensure the rights of people who had bought flats to secure compensation.
The judge noted that BNP Group had collected Rs5.398 billion from buyers while at the same time had been asking for extensions in their payment schedule, and the CDA extended this schedule in violation of the terms and conditions.
The judge, who upheld the CDA decision of cancelling the lease, wrote that those who bought the flats did so by taking a risk since they did not make enquiries from the CDA, probably because a reasonable and prudent person would have been justified in not believing that the construction could maneuver illegally. Hence, ignorance of the law cannot be pleaded as a valid ground for making the purchase.
On March 9, 2005, the CDA had auctioned the 13.5-acre plot on One Constitution Avenue to the BNP Group for Rs4.88 billion. The CDA board, however, handed over the possession of the plot in 2005 after receiving just Rs800 million.
Justice Athar Minallah ruled that the federal government, CDA and BNP group had blatantly violated the law since neither the civic agency nor the government could justify its regulatory failure and negligence in allowing BNP to illegally sell flats on the property. There is nothing on record to even remotely indicate as to how someone who had not participated in the bidding process was permitted to execute the lease deed and, thereafter, construct a building on the plot.
The gross violations and irregularities of which the allottee was found guilty and which became the basis of the instant judgment were committed during the tenures of Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan People’s Party.
