De-seal Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, IHC orders CDA

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De-seal Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House, IHC orders CDA

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has ordered to de-seal the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad, two days after the Capital Development Authority (CDA) sealed it.

The court’s orders were issued by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq during the hearing of a plea filed by the KP government.

Justice Farooq told the CDA lawyer that the authority can issue notices to seal the property according to the law. “Don’t make it seem like you are targeting someone.”

Presenting arguments during the hearing, the authority’s lawyer said that illegal construction has taken place on the property and some dues are also still pending with the first notice given to the KP administration in 2014.

The lawyer insisted that the lease of the property expired in 2014.

“When did CDA issue notices?” asked the IHC chief justice, insisting that a notice should have been issued even before sealing the house.

The judge further remarked: “It is a provincial house. [It] is shameless to seal it.”

The KP government, a day earlier, filed a plea against the provincial house being sealed by the CDA.

In its petition, the provincial government maintained that the house — a property of the KP government — had been sealed “illegally”.

The plea added that when the KP administration moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the CDA’s action, it was told to take the matter to the IHC — which was termed as the proper forum for the case.