ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has reversed Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order regarding the Grand Hayat lease case, directing the builder to pay Rs17.5 billion to Capital Development Authority (CDA) in eight years on equal annual instalments.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar heard the case here on Wednesday. The top court ordered the company to submit a bank guarantee of every instalment in this regard.
The court also declared null and void the IHC’s decision of July 2016, 2018 in which it had upheld the cancellation of a plot by the CDA meant for Grand Hyatt Hotel over violations of building laws.
According to the details, M/s BNP was allotted a plot for the purpose of constructing a luxury Grand Hyatt hotel in 2004, but it instead built luxury apartments that were sold to various high-profile buyers, including Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan.
“Was the CDA sleeping for 13 years [while the towers were being constructed]? Now, when two towers have been built, the authority is saying that they fall within the Margalla Hills National Park area and should be demolished,” the chief justice said.
“The Supreme Court’s building and the secretariat also fall in the area, shall those be demolished too?” he added while expressing annoyance on the way the Capital has been developed.
CDA Chairman Afzal Latif reacted by saying that employees of the authority had defrauded it.
“You did not remember this fraud for 13 years? Why should the people who spent four billion to buy those apartments have to suffer now?” replied the chief justice.