ISLAMABAD: The ministry of law and justice has locked horns with the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) over the ownership of a house in Sector F-6/3 after the latter decided to convert it into the ‘Chief Justice House.’

But according to the record of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), the house belongs to the law ministry.

On August 25, in response to a letter from the ministry of law, the CDA provided documents to the court which showed that the house (No 48, Khayaban-i-Margalla, Sector F-6/3), was allotted to the law ministry on September 3, 1980.

Ahmed Dildar, a former registrar of the FSC, told Dawn that in 1980 the law ministry purchased the house from a former minister, Manzoor Qadir, and handed it over to the newly-established Shariat Court.

The FSC functioned in the house till the year 2000 when it moved into its own building on the Constitution Avenue.


CDA record shows property was allocated to ministry in 1980 but FSC says it paid for the house after opening its offices there the same year


The law ministry took over the building the same year and established its development wing there. After the establishment of accountability courts in Islamabad, the upper portion of the house was allocated for the two courts’ courtrooms, judges’ chambers and staff rooms.

In 2014, the accountability courts were shifted to the Federal Judicial Complex in G-11 but the law ministry retained its access to the justice programme and the development wing in the house.

However, after the Supreme Court directed the CDA to stop non-conforming use of residential buildings, the development wing of the law ministry was moved to the newly-established Immigration Tower in Sector G-8 in July this year.

On July 1, the FSC registrar issued a notification stating: “It is notified for information of all concerned that on its vacation by the ministry of law and justice (development wing), the building of the Federal Shariat Court…hereby declared as ‘Chief Justice House’ with immediate effect.”

The FSC administration planned to take over the property on August 22 but delayed it after the secretary law made a telephone call to the FSC chief justice, documents available with Dawn showed.

However, the ministry locked the premises on August 22 after which the FSC registrar, Bin Yamin, on August 24 again wrote a letter to the law secretary, asking her “to kindly depute some officer who should be present on August 29, 2016 at 11:00 am when assistant registrar of this court will unlock/open the subject house.”

According to the FSC registrar, the Public Works Department (PWD) “shall get the house unlocked.”

The FSC administration also directed SSP Islamabad Sajid Kayani “to depute police officer who should present on August 29…so that house could be unlocked.”

A similar direction was issued to the director general PWD “to depute executive engineer and his staff members in order to unlock/open the subject house.”

Making a last-ditch effort to save its property, the joint secretary ministry of law, Gulzar Hussain Shah, on August 26 wrote a letter to the FSC along with the CDA letter regarding the ownership of the property.

The letter said: “The subject property is allotted in the name of ministry of law and justice…the said property was however given to the FSC on temporary basis for its use and was got vacated when FSC got its own building...the property after vacation of FSC is in the continuous use of this ministry and the ministry has already moved a summary to the prime minister for its better use as the said property cannot be used as an office in the light of recent order of the apex court.”

A senior official of the law ministry, when contacted, told Dawn that since the house belonged to the law ministry, any other organisation cannot take possession of it.When contacted, the FSC registrar, Bin Yamin, did not comment on the matter. However, a senior official of the FSC said the court was the legitimate owner of the property.

He claimed that the administration had documents regarding the ownership of the house.

He said in 1980 the FSC had paid the federal government for the house and temporarily handed it over to the law ministry. He said the competent authority had issued directions to the PWD and the police to unlock the house.

When contacted, SSP Sajid Kayani expressed ignorance about the direction. Another senior police officer on the condition of anonymity said the police cannot unlock any house in such a case. He said the police would refer the matter to the area magistrate.

It is up to the magistrate to decide if to unlock the property or maintain the status quo, he added.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2016

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