ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday ordered the relevant authorities to evacuate illegally allotted government houses within three weeks.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar heard the case pertaining to illegal allotment of government houses to irrelevant persons.
During the hearing, the chief justice asked about journalist Saleh Zafar who has been living in a government residence in Sector F-6. The Housing and Works secretary responded that he had been issued a notice for vacating the house.
The chief justice inquired why the house was allotted to Saleh Zafar’s wife and how was she eligible, further asking why the relevant authority did not work under the law and how could police officials illegally occupy over 200 houses.
The attorney general informed the court that more than 543 houses are illegally occupied currently. The Islamabad Inspector General (IG) said, “No one is above the law.” The additional attorney general prayed to the top court to grant more time to fix the issue.
The chief justice said that the houses should be vacated in a weeks time, adding that the police will assist the housing authority in case of any resistance.
The additional attorney general informed the court that the High Court had issued stay order for 17 places. The court passed the same order to the authority, reiterating that the time to vacate the illegally occupied houses is one week.