ISLAMABAD: The law ministry has appointed a ‘blue-eyed’ lawyer as the chief legal adviser (CLA) of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), just a few months before the term of the PML-N-led federal government expires.

A notification issued by the law ministry on Jan 15, 2018, said: “The [Law] Division appoints Hafiz Hifzur Rehman Syed, advocate… as the chief legal adviser, in the CDA… The department concerned may entrust its legal matters/cases to the aforesaid chief legal advisor”.

It ended with the note that the notification has been issued with the approval of the secretary to law and justice division in consultation with the attorney general.

The newly-appointed CLA Rehman is the son of senior lawyer Hafiz S.A. Rehman, a close friend of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law Barrister Zafarullah Khan.

Appointment comes months before PML-N tenure expires, govt looks to regularise ‘dormant’ projects

Mr Rehman was working as the CDA’s legal adviser, but resigned on April 28, 2017, citing “personal reasons”.

He resigned with remarks that, “due to personal reasons, I cannot continue as the legal adviser of the CDA, Islamabad”.

It may be mentioned that after Mr Rehman tendered his resignation, there were rumors that he might be made the chairman of the Drug Court of Islamabad, but the move was opposed by PML-N Lawyers’ Forum, as they wanted to keep the slot for their own man, since the outgoing chairman of the court was also a member of the PML-N Lawyers’ Forum.

After a gap of a few months, the law ministry brought Mr Rehman back to the CDA, but with more power and authority.

When contacted, Mr Rehman told Dawn that since the CDA was facing problems in handling legal matters and files were stuck up at tables, his appointment had been made to clear the backlog.

He denied any favoritism in his appointment and said it had been made “purely on merit”.

He said that since he was not an expert in handling criminal proceedings, he was not a suitable candidate for the post of the chairman of drug court.

His appointment comes as the government seeks to regularise certain projects, which have been declared illegal by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

For example, a committee, headed by the attorney general of Pakistan and constituted to compensate influential owners of luxury apartments in the controversial Grand Hyatt project, is considering various options and one of them is to regularise the project.

The committee has sought the input from the CDA over a plan to regularise the lease of a multi-billion-rupee plot to M/s BNP, declared illegal by the IHC.

In March last year, IHC Justice Athar Minallah declared the construction of luxury apartments on the land meant for the luxury Grand Hyatt Hotel illegal and upheld the CDA’s move to cancel the lease of the 13.5-acre plot.

Earlier in 2011, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) appointed Barrister Masroor Shah as the CLA in the CDA. Mr Shah was a close friend of the then law minister Babar Awan.

Mr Shah, however, resigned from the post of the CLA after his appointment was challenged in the Supreme Court.

In the petition against Mr Shah’s appointment, it was alleged that hiring of Barrister Masroor Shah was illegal and it has been made under political influence. The petition pointed out that “Mr Shah has been appointed in violation of Rules of Business 1973, Rule 14(1)(g)” and “according to the provisions of CDA Ordinance, 1960, read with Capital Development Authority Conduct of Business Regulations, 1985, there is no post of the chief legal adviser in the CDA”.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2018