ISLAMABAD: A three-judge Supreme Court bench will take up on Tuesday (April 13) the review petition of the Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) against its March 2 direction to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to demolish lawyers’ chambers on the football ground in Sector F-8 if not vacated.

The bench will consist of Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi.

A number of senior lawyers like Sardar Latif Khosa, Hamid Khan, Syed Iqbal Hussain Shah Gillani, Haroonur Rashid, Mohammad Shoaib Shaheen, Sardar Shahbaz Ali Khan Khosa, and Malik Mohammad Amir signed the petition before it was formally filed before the apex court.

The petition was moved on the grounds that the March 2 order of the apex court contains errors floating on the surface, which went unnoticed like the Aug 24, 2007 order by a larger bench of the Supreme Court in which the shifting of the District court Islamabad premises from Sector F-8 to G-10 was stayed.

Then the SC had postponed further hearing in the case for an indefinite period.

The review petition pleaded that the Aug 24 order categorically establishes that the federal government and the authorities concerned had not only given a clear undertaking that the existing chambers of the lawyers and the bar room would not be dislodged unless facilities to the bar were provided simultaneously with the shifting of the District Courts Islamabad.

Even the PC-1 concerning chambers of the lawyers had been approved and funds of Rs109 million were likely to be released by or before June 30, 2009 by the CDA, the petition pleaded after that the construction work was to be undertaken.

In view of the stated position, the lawyer’s chambers should have been constructed by now and the smooth transition in view of the solemn commitment before the highest transition in view of the solemn commitment before the highest judicial forum was binding on all courts and authorities, argues the review petition.

The petition pleaded that the errors pointed out and omissions and commissions to be argued at the bar were of immense fundamental importance and can be seen floating on the surface of the order under review.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2021