ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: Less than three weeks after its opening, Islamabad’s only cinema was closed down after the Capital Development Authority (CDA) withdrew the no-objection certificate (NOC).

The management of the cinema located in the Centaurus Mall on Tuesday challenged the decision of the civic agency in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

On August 16, 2013, Mandiwala Entertainment had opened the cinema for the public on the fourth floor of the Centaurus Mall.

However, the cinema was closed on September 6 after the CDA did not allow the entertainment firm to operate it.

The planning wing of the civic agency in a letter on September 6 informed the additional district magistrate that “the competent authority has decided to withdraw the NOC for the cinema licence to Centaurus Cineplex as Pak Gulf, the management of the mall, has failed to obtain a completion certificate (from the CDA) before occupying the building.

Therefore, the request of M/s Mandviwala will be considered on the provision of the completion certificate.”

A copy of the letter was also forwarded to Nadeem Mandviwala, the chief executive of the entertainment firm.

It may be noted that it was after many years that the residents of Islamabad had got a cinema in their city.

During the last couple of decades, four cinema houses in the capital city were closed down.

They were Melody Cinema, the National Film Development Corporation (Nafdec) I and II and Kohsar Cinema.

Challenging the withdrawal of the NOC, Mandviwala Entertainment contended before the IHC that under the West Pakistan Cinematograph Rule 1962 the CDA had granted the NOC for the establishment of Centaurus Cineplex on August 15, 2013.

It said the NOC was valid for a period of one year.

It said the CDA had also issued an annual licence under section 13 of the Motion Picture Ordinance 1979 to the petitioner on August 16 which was valid till August 15, 2014.

“On September 7, the petitioner came to know that the CDA planning directorate had written a letter to the district administration informing it that the NOC for the cinema had been withdrawn as the owner of the Centaurus Mall had not obtained the completion certificate from the civic agency,” said the petition.

It added that on February 17, 2013, the then prime minister, Raja Pervez Asharaf, had inaugurated the Centaurus Mall and the function was attended by all top officials of the district administration and the CDA.

The shopping mall is fully operational up to the fourth floor, and is housing international food chains and other outlets.

It said the petitioner had invested Rs200 million in the establishment of the cinema and opened it to the public after the issuance of the NOC.

The petition alleged that at the behest of its Rawalpindi-based competitor the CDA had closed the only cinema set up in the capital.

“The withdrawal of the NOC is a mockery of the constitutional rights of the petitioner,” said the petition, adding that the reason given for the withdrawal of the NOC was arbitrary.

The petitioner requested the court to declare the withdrawal of the NOC illegal and restrain the authority from revoking the licence it had issued to the petitioner firm for setting up the cinema.

The IHC chief justice, Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi, will hear the petition on Wednesday.