SC intervenes when govt fails to fulfill its obligations: CJ

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (SC) Jawwad S Khawaja on Monday ruled that the court intervened when the government failed to fulfill its constitutional obligations and ensure provision of fundamental rights of the people enshrined in the Constitution.
“The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has adopted a discriminating culture while setting separate attitude for the influential class and the weaker ones,” the chief justice observed while hearing a set of petitions filed against the CDA and police action against he Katchi Abadi of Sector I-11, federal capital.
The court directed secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan to convene a meeting of the four provinces to formulate proposals on realistic approach for providing shelter to the shelterless people living in slums of federal capital and submit it by next Monday.
The court, after taking guidance from Tasleem Ahmed Siddiqui, a former civil servant, having an experience of launching schemes for Katchi Abadis in Sindh, directed secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan to convene a meeting of the four provinces with their respective law officers, the six respondents in the identical petitions filed against the CDA and police operation against the Sector I-11 and formulate proposals.
The court also directed the CDA to provide Tasleem Ahmed Siddiqui with full facilities of phone and internet besides arranging accommodation for the expert for two weeks in the federal capital.
The court ruled that as per certain provisions and articles of the Constitution, the state is responsible for providing adequate food, clothing, medical and housing facilities while fulfilling its constitutional obligations.
The chief justice observed that the civic body committed injustice with 17,000 dwellers of the Katchi Abadi in Sector I-11 making them homeless and failed to give any reasonable rationale for launching an operation in the area.
Deputy Attorney General Aamir Rehman told the court that the civic body had launched a lawful operation against the dwellers of I-11 Sector.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa, however, asked Deputy Attorney General as to whether there were any terrorist found by the authorities in the slum. “How can you differentiate between the people and those who are terrorists killing people?,” Justice Isa asked.
“People have made illegal encroachments upon several acres of government land but the authorities don’t bother to take notice of it but only the oppressed and weaker are being made homeless,” Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja remarked.
The chief justice further recalled that precious land which was allocated for making poultry farms and vegetables farms in Chak Shehzad, in the heart of the federal capital were used for building bungalows and nobody took notice but an operation was launched against the poor dwellers of Sector I-11 who had played a significant role in building the federal capital.
Bilal Minto, counsel for the petitioners, submitted before the court that out of 17,000 dwellers of Sector I-11, 5,000 were on electoral rolls who also exercised their right of franchise in two general elections.
To a court query, a representative of the Directorate of Enforcement, CDA, said that after razing the I-11 Katchi Abadi, the people were facilitated with transportation.
At this, Justice Dost Muhammad Khan remarked, “You have accelerated them. You have made a great concession to them for not forwarding their cases to anti-terrorist courts,” Justice Dost Muhammad added.
“You should have transported the dwellers to the land where illegal encroachments were made upon,” Chief Justice Jawwad S Khawaja remarked.
Earlier, Tasleem Ahmed Siddiqui, a former DG who dealt with the Kachi Abadis in Sindh while assisting the court, submitted that the general public, particularly the people of low-income group, doesn’t have an access to the schemes launched by the government. He said that 30 to 35 percent of the country’s population lives in slums adding that people, who manage to get plots, don’t use it and those who can’t afford, don’t have an access to these housing schemes.
He said that he had launched a housing scheme for low-income class in Karachi and allotted 3,500 plots on easy installments adding that the said scheme was completed in two years with all the facilities of schooling and health, etc.
After getting inspired from this scheme, the Punjab government also approached them and they had guided the province, he said.
He said that most of the people migrated to urban areas in search of jobs as there was no civic infrastructure in rural areas, adding that most of the people who shifted to Islamabad are from the KP in search of better job opportunities and the people have played a significant role in building the federal capital.
He said that national dailies are daily flooded with advertisements of housing schemes, which are mostly for the upper class but there is no space for the poor people in these schemes.
He further informed the court that the prime minister had launched a housing scheme with Apna Ghar of 0.5 million houses, allocating billions of rupees in the budget. He, however, on court query replied that since the inception of that scheme only three meetings were held and after that nobody knew as to where the money allocated for the said housing scheme had gone.
The court asked him as to how he could assist it in making such a workable housing scheme where the low income people could be benefited, particularly the shelterless people in the country.
Tasleem Ahmed Siddiqui, however, said that it would require at least two months wherein he would be able to extend his help.
The court asked the expert to work only on federal capital so that the shelterless people could be benefited.
Tasleem Ahmed said that he could assist the court for two weeks.
Meanwhile, the court agreed and directed secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan to convene a meeting in this regard.
The court ruled that after the proposals were submitted, an appropriate order would be passed in the matter.