Plots for judges, bureaucrats: IHC verdict challenged in SC

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court’s February 3 verdict in the case of allotment of plots to top judges, bureaucrats and lawyers on subsidised rates was challenged in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Government allottees filed a petition in the apex court, pleading with it to set aside the high court’s verdict.

The petition states that the IHC cancelled allotment of plots after taking “suo motu” notice of the matter despite the fact that the court had no power to do so. Besides, it adds the IHC cannot cancel the plots’ allotment.

On Feb 3, the Islamabad High Court had announced its verdict on an intra-court appeal in the case of plot allotments to judges, bureaucrats, and government employees in different sectors of the federal capital.

Read: Plot allotments to judges, bureaucrats illegal, rules IHC

A two-judge bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani observed that the institutions and persons that are the intended beneficiaries, whether federal government employees or judges, “exist and hold offices solely to serve the actual stake holders i.e the people of Pakistan.”

“Public office holders cannot create any interest in their own favour in derogation to the welfare and wellbeing of the people,” the judges noted, adding the plot allotment scheme is “contrary to public interest and grossly in violation of the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the people at large.”