ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan Peoples Party stalwart representing residents and owners of plots of the Bahria Town, Karachi, requested the Supreme Court on Thursday to provide right of appeal by amending its rules in cases decided by it after invoking its jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.

“We could not bring amendments in parliament though I was one of the initiators in the Senate, but the Supreme Court should amend its rules by providing the right of appeal in cases decided under Article 184(3) of the Constitution,” argued Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan.

“Why don’t you exercise your power and withdraw the jurisdiction available to the apex court under the Constitution, and we will examine later whether the authority was lawfully used or not,” retorted Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar.

The chief justice was heading a five-judge bench that had taken up a petition seeking review of the court’s May 4 judgement, which had barred the Bahria Town, Karachi, from selling plots or built-up apartments in the scheme it had launched in the city, adding that its lands would go back to the Malir Development Authority (MDA). The verdict had also held that the transfer of land between the MDA and Bahria Town, Karachi, was illegal.

Malik Riaz offers to donate 25pc of assets to dam fund

Around 9,385 acres of land in 43 dehs was consolidated in 2015 by the MDA and handed over to the Bahria Town, Karachi — situated about 9km from toll plaza on the Karachi-Hyderabad superhighway. The purpose was to build a private housing society in the area.

“We had no idea that people are so annoyed with the exercise of [jurisdiction under] Article 184(3),” observed the chief justice. Mr Ahsan replied that people were angry because “everyone was being painted with one brush”.

Earlier, Barrister Ali Zafar, who was representing the Bahria Town, Karachi, contended that the case at hand involved a number of disputes and pertained to the possibility of imposing curbs on the exercise of Article 184(3).

The chief justice observed that the petitioners were seeking a direction to avoid an inquiry by the National Accountability Court (NAB), only to protect some bigwigs. He added that the entire transaction had been carried out with the mala fide intention to benefit someone else.

The court also expressed surprise over how the developer, the government, the residents and the MDA had joined hands, with the MDA even claiming that it had not suffered a loss due to the exchange of lands.

The apex court repeatedly asked a number of counsel representing the Bahria Town, Karachi, and other parties to show whether the lands were handed over to the MDA by the Sindh government in a rightful manner, which were later transferred to the developer in exchange for lands that were situated almost 300km away from Malir in Dadu district.

The chief justice offered to close the case provided Malik Riaz, the chairman of the Bahria Town, furnished Rs1,000 billion as a differential amount for the transfer of prized lands to the developer by the MDA.

This made Mr Riaz approach the rostrum to explain that when the total proceeds from the sale of plots to the buyers amounted to Rs427 billion, how could he pay Rs1,000bn. At this, the chief justice said the total worth of the tycoon was Rs3,000bn. Mr Riaz disputed the claim and said he was not worth Rs100bn, not even Rs50bn.

The tycoon also explained to the court how barren lands had been converted into a modern, developed city by planting over 10 million trees, constructing one of the largest mosques in the world, building schools, colleges, hospitals, golf courses and dancing fountains, and providing other amenities.

The same land was earlier the habitat of drug peddlers and other criminals, Mr Riaz said as he offered to donate 25 per cent of his assets to the dam fund.

During the hearing, the court took exception to an observation made by one of the counsel, Zahid Bukhari, who had said that investment was being discouraged and that the “entire country would sink with the sinking of Bahria Town”.

Barrister Zafar said his client would not object if the price differential was evaluated by an implementation bench of the court, but added that his client did not agree with the observations made in the May 4 judgement in which words like “connivance and wrongful gains” had been used; such words could influence the investigating agencies as well as the subsequent trial.

“I will be satisfied if the observations are withdrawn, but NAB should be directed to stay away till the matter is pending before the court,” he said.

The chief justice, however, observed that NAB would continue to act independently and would pick up the thread from where it had left and if someone was found responsible he/she would face a corruption reference.

During the proceedings a number of residents appeared before the court and complained that the proceedings had served to devalue their property. Investors had stopped investing in the scheme and this had hurt their interests.

Barrister Ahsan suggested that the court had “made a gross misreading of the records” as it had failed to notice a crucial notification as well as the existence of a master plan.

He contended that the grant of land by Sindh government to the MDA and the exchange of land by the MDA with the Bahria Town, Karachi, was mixed up by the verdict which also misperceived the purpose of the grant of land. The court adjourned further proceedings till Oct 11.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2018