ISLAMABAD: A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking contempt of court proceedings against Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed, Cabinet Division Secretary Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera and Chief of Naval Staff Zafar Mahmood Abbasi for failing to comply with orders to seal the Navy Sailing Club.

Referring to the IHC’s directions to seal the club, the petitioner, Zeenat Saleem, contended that neither the CDA nor naval authorities implemented the order to seal the club.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had ordered for the club to be sealed, observing: “Prima facie, the occupation of the land and construction of building thereon are illegal and in violation of the enforced laws. It is, therefore, ordered that till the next date fixed the federal government, through the secretary cabinet, and the chairman, Capital Development Authority, shall seal the premises.”

The court directed the cabinet secretary to place the matter before the cabinet at its next meeting, as enforced laws are not being implemented and enforcement has been limited to common citizens.

The petitioner contended that the CDA was reluctant to seal the premises despite court orders.

According to the petition, the Navy Sailing Club is operating as normal and its information desk is distributing membership forms to visitors.

The petition said the CDA was supposed to seal the premises with its own locks and deploy staff to comply with court orders.

However, “no such action of sealing has been undertaken by CDA and the management of PN Sailing Club is continuing with its business affairs as a routine matter.”

“This is a classic example of discriminatory application of law by CDA,” the petition claimed.

It asked the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the aforementioned authorities and for the respondents to be directed to comply with the court order.

Division bench suspends order

An IHC division bench made up of Justice Minallah and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervaiz has suspended the orders of an IHC single bench that imposed a Rs20 million fine on the interior secretary, inspector general of police Islamabad, superintendent of police and the Lohi Bher station house officer (SHO) in the disappearance of engineer Salman Farooq.

The Lohi Bher SHO filed an intra-court appeal against the order of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, who in addition to imposing the fine recommended that the government terminate these officials for not protecting the citizen’s fundamental rights.

The court upheld the direction to locate the man in a month’s time.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2020