ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday ordered Capital Development Authority (CDA) to seal off the hilltop Monal Restaurant at Pir Sohawa as it declared illegal the General Headquarters’ (GHQ) claim to 8,000 acres of Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) land which houses the entity.
The directive was issued by Chief Justice Athar Minallah in “the wider public interest” during a hearing into a case related to encroachments in the park.
The 22,000 acres of land that now constitute the MHNP were in fact owned by the Punjab government. However, later, around 5,500 acres were allocated to the Remount Veterinary and Farms Directorate (RVFD) of the GHQ although the exact year this allocation was made was not available.
The CDA now owns the remaining 16,500 acres.
In 2006, the regulator leased out the restaurant — built with its own resources — to a private business for a period of 15 years at an annual rent of Rs3.12 million without an open auction.
The rent was nominal as compared to similar commercial businesses leased out by the authority. The regulator also said it had not levied property tax on the leaseholder, the regulator told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly in 2018.
However, in a twisting turn of events, the RVFD in 2019 told CDA that Monal was in fact built on its portion of the land and now the military agency wanted “its land” back.
A CDA member told a National Assembly committee at the time that 15 years ago, the CDA “did not know it was building Monal Restaurant on military grasslands until the army started claiming it”.
The park was last demarcated in the 1960s.
Today, Climate Secretary retired Capt. Sikander Qayyum, who was present during the proceedings in a case against encroachments on the Margalla Hills National Park, urged the court to make Islamabad’s master plan public.
The court also ordered the CDA to assume control of the Margalla Greens Golf Club and farmhouses built by the navy on MHNP lands — properties Justice Minallah last week ordered to demolish for “trespassing on the land situated on the embankment of Rawal Lake, and that too in a protected national park area”.
Today, the judge ordered the defence secretary to complete an inquiry into the alleged encroachment by the navy, take action against those responsible and ensure there was no illegal construction by the three wings of the military.
Justice Minallah wondered under which law the 8,000 acres of land was allotted for the golf facility. “The lawlessness benefits the elite only. Rule of law also applies to all sectors of forces,” the judge ruled.
He asked whether the Pakistan Navy had taken prior approval from the CDA for the constructions.
“Every state institution has indulged in encroachment everywhere,” the CDA chairman told the court.
At the outset of the hearing, the court was informed that Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam could not appear since he had contracted Covid-19.
Justice Minallah asked Qayyum whether his job was “just to plant trees?”, reminding that “the ministry has itself acknowledged that the state’s land was encroached upon by private people.”
“What should this court do? What is happening is surprising,” the judge said.
Justice Minallah remarked that there was “lawlessness” abound in the 1,400 square miles of the capital territory.
