Banigala case: Govt sacks those who stand up for justice, says CJ

ISLAMABAD: Hearing Banigala case, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar Tuesday remarked that Additional Attorney General Nayyar Abbas Rizvi was removed for speaking the truth and that the government sacked those who stood up for justice.

A three-judge bench, headed by the chief justice, heard a suo motu case of illegal constructions in Banigala area of the federal capital.

As the hearing went under way, Justice Nisar asked, “What’s the update on regularisation of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s residence? Has he submitted a request for it?”

“Is there a delay in the regularisation of properties only because of Imran Khan?” he further asked, report Geo.

He also sought details of those who had applied for regularisation of their properties and those who had deposited the regularisation fee.

Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) informed the court that over 100 applications had been received.

At this, the chief justice asked whether further information and documents had been sought from the applicants.

The deputy attorney general told the court that they were given the case file after a delay.

The chief justice then asked him to look over the file and said the court will take up the case after a break.

The court then went on a break. Murree Project near Islamabad.

The court referred the matter to a three-member implementation bench of the apex court in Bahria Town Karachi case judgment headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.

Similarly, the court also directed former chief minister of Punjab and current Speaker of the Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to submit his reply to the said implementation bench.

The court had summoned Pervaiz Elahi for approving the demarcation of Takhtpari forest land as well as allotting some of the land to his near and dear ones.

The court asked him to explain under what authority he had ordered demarcation and issued him a notice.

Elahi appeared before the court and submitted that the matter was 13-year-old and he didn’t have the instant record in this regard.

The chief justice, however, said the court will provide him with a copy of judgment delivered in the instant matter and he could file a reply after going through the judgment.

The chief justice asked Elahi under what authority he had ordered demarcation of forest land and transferred some of the land to his near and dear ones after demarcation.

The chief justice said the court had given its findings against him and read out a portion of the judgment related to him stating that the court had ordered the forest department to conduct a fresh survey of the forest besides constituting an implementation bench to protect the third party interest.

The chief justice further told Elahi that the court had also directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference against those involved in the matter.