The Capital Development Authority (CDA) in its board meeting on Monday (today) is likely to approve the allotment of a plot in the red zone to Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the construction of its building.
A senior Civic Agency official told Pakistan Today that the CDA’s Directorate of Planning and Design had forwarded a summary to the CDA board entailing the allotment of a plot measuring 2 acres for the construction of the IHC building and the board would approve the summary on Monday. The proposed piece of land is situated adjacent to the under-construction Supreme Court Bar Association building in the red zone.
It had been a demand by the lawyers’ community that the IHC be shifted somewhere closer to the Supreme Court building so as to facilitate both litigants and legal practitioners. The official said that after the allotment of the said plot, the construction work would be completed within two years. He said the said plot would cost the IHC around Rs 27.5 million at a rate of Rs 4500 per square yard.
Earlier, the CDA had allotted a plot in Sector G/9 for the construction of the IHC buildings. However, the city’s administration and the lawyers’ community had rejected it. Currently, IHC has no proper building and is housed in the buildings of Islamabad District Courts in Sector-G/9, which were constructed for the district and session judges’ courts in 2007. The district courts, however, could not be shifted there, as the site is far from F/8 Markaz.
On the other hand, the district and session judges’ courts are still functioning in a busy market area of Sector F/8 Markaz, which is very vulnerable to security threats and where thousands of litigants visit daily. These courts present a shabby picture with a large number of lawyers’ chambers next to restaurants, refreshment centres and makeshift offices occupied by the stamp paper sellers. The bombing incident in 2007 had claimed several lives in this area.
