ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa said every institution should do its job, the judiciary should do its own and the army should also perform its own functions.
The CJP stated that while heading a three-judge bench, which heard the case related to the removal of unlawful and illegal construction.
The Court observed that the land given to the army for defence purposes is used for commercial activities. The chief justice questioned how marriage halls or business activities could be carried out on the land, given to the army for defence purposes.
The attorney general responded as a matter of principle every institution should do its own job. Upon that, Justice Faez asked him if he had such instructions then give assurance to the court. He again asked the AGP when he could assure that the army would not be involved in the commercial activities, and would only defend the frontiers of the country.
The counsel for the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) said that the building which was the bone of contention belonged to the Board. He submitted that the allottees got the property registered in their names on forged documents and then sold it. “Now a five-storey building has been built on that plot.”
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar questioned where the ETPB authorities were when the five-storey building was constructed. The chief justice remarked that this all happens with the connivance of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), adding without their nod illegal construction of a building is not possible. He said the SBCA inspectors and high-ranking officers’ assets needed to be checked.
Justice Faez further said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) should audit the assets of Karachi’s sub-registrars. The assets of the SBCA officers which do not match their salaries should be given to the victims whose homes were bulldozed as compensation for losses. Justice Mazhar said the Sindh government would never conduct such an inquiry.
The director general of SBCA appeared before the bench. The chief justice inquired from him how many inspectors and officers were working in the SBCA. The DG said that in total there are 1,400 employees and out of them 600 are building inspectors and 300 are senior inspectors.
Justice Faez in the federal government’s housing scheme in sectors F-14 and F-15 in Islamabad, had observed that neither the Constitution nor any law entitled judges or senior members of the armed forces to receive plots or pieces of land. “The independence of the judiciary is a necessary concomitant to ensure its respect and credibility in the eyes of the people, but the executive giving plots to judges constitutes a favour,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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