ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reprimanded the management of Monal Restaurant for misleading the Supreme Court to get its premises de-sealed.

A division bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, expressed displeasure over the management of Monal for giving the wrong impression in the Supreme Court that the short order issued by a single-member bench of the IHC for sealing the restaurant was executed without the signature of the author judge.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on January 11 had ordered sealing and taking over of the possession of the Monal Restaurant.

Subsequently, when a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan was told that the short order had not been signed it declared that “the unsigned order of the IHC will remain suspended.” Consequently, the restaurant was de-sealed.

On Jan 11, the high court had ordered the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) to take over the possession of the Monal Restaurant and seal its premises subject to allowing its owner/management to take out its property.

The high court had also held that the lease agreement of the restaurant with the CDA had expired and its agreement of Sept 30, 2019, with Remount, Veterinary and Farms Directorate was void and without any legal effect.

As per the court record, the IHC order was signed the same day — on Jan 11 — and a party in the case obtained a certified copy as well.

The bench sought explanation from the counsel of the eatery for giving a misleading statement and also inquired as to why the restaurant attached an unsigned copy along with his appeal instead of the signed one.

The counsel for Monal Group, Sardar Taimoor Aslam, told the court that he was not representing the restaurant in the Supreme Court.

He, however, said media might have misreported the apex court’s observations.

It may be mentioned that Monal’s counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan adopted before the Supreme Court that no certified copy of the Jan 11 short order of the high court was available. Besides, the intra-court appeal in the IHC was fixed twice but the hearing was postponed without any reason.

The IHC chief justice in the short order on the petition related to encroachment on protected Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) had directed the secretary defence to fix responsibility on officials for construction of a golf course while the chairman CDA had been ordered to probe construction of Monal and other restaurants in the protected areas of MHNP.

The dispute between CDA and the private eatery emerged after the latter started payment of rent to the Messers Remount, the veterinary and farms directorate of the General Headquarters (GHQ), instead of the civic agency as the directorate claimed ownership on the land on the basis of a notification of 1912 which the IHC declared as illegal.

The CDA earlier last year had issued a notice to the restaurant after expiry of the lease, however, the Monal Group challenged the notice saying that they had been regularly paying rent to the above mentioned directorate of the GHQ.

Justice Minallah noted that the lease agreement of Monal Restaurant with the CDA had expired and its agreement dated September 30, 2019, with the Remount, Veterinary and Farms Directorate was void and without any legal effect.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2022