ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday issued notices to the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) in a case moved by allottees in sectors F-14 and F-15 after allowing them to become a party in the case.

A three-judge special bench consisting of Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Ayesha Malik had taken up an appeal against the Feb 3, 2022 Islamabad High Court (IHC) judgement that the revised policy intended to be launched in sectors F-12, G-12, F-14 and F-15 was in derogation of public interest and violative of constitutional rights of the public at large.

The apex court also ordered the registrar office to allot numbers to the petitions, and also issue notices to the AGP, to be taken up after two weeks.

A Senate Standing Committee on Housing and Works earlier had recommended that Sector F-14 be allocated by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) for a housing scheme. After meetings and deliberations, the CDA and respondent FGEHF agreed to start a housing scheme in Sector F-14.

Counsel says IHC order amounted to exercise of suo motu power

Accordingly, the Ministry of Housing and Works secretary initiated a summary on Jan 6, 2015, regarding acquisition of land for the FGEHF in F-14 and some parts of F-15 in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

The prime minister approved the summary on May 1, 2015, and notifications under Section 4 and later under Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 were issued by the ICT commissioner on May 20, 2015, and Dec 4, 2015, respectively.

On Sept 29, 2016, a development contract was awarded to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and an award was announced by the collector on Nov 15, 2016, regarding the land in F-14.

Thereafter, the commissioner issued a notification pertaining to the land in F-15/3 and F-15/4 on June 15, 2017, and the land collector then announced the award for the land situated in revenue estates of Tarnol and Jhangi Syedan in favor of FGEHF on July 6, 2017. Finally, the allotment was made in 2021 after the first round of litigation decided by the Supreme Court for the same sectors.

However, the matter was again challenged in IHC through different petitions, which issued its judgement vide Feb 3, 2022, declaring that the housing schemes for F-14, F-15, G-12, and F-12 were unconstitutional and illegal. The allottees and FGEHF challenged the impugned before the Supreme Court.

Senior counsel Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar on behalf of the allottees argued that the high court had raised questions that were neither taken up by the petitioners in their petitions nor was any prayer to that effect made in the writ petitions, thus the court order amounted to exercise of suo motu power which a high court does not enjoy.

The counsel contended that being serving and retired government servants the allottees deposited the requisite amount for a long time, besides the acquisition of a housing scheme constituting a valid public purpose has already been decided for the same housing sectors by the Supreme Court.

The allottees have now become victims of this long-standing litigation when particularly the matter was earlier decided by the Supreme Court for the same housing sectors, the lawyer added.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2023