SC orders closure of NADRA office near Bahria Town

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to close down its office located near Bahria Town after hearing a suo motu case against illegal issuance of 20,000 Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) to Bahria Town employees.
The applicant Muhammad Hashmi told the court that 4,100 CNICs had so far been issued, adding that temporary addresses of these cards had been changed with addresses of the NA-52 constituency to turn them into voters of the constituency. This illegal exercise was taking away the democratic right of people of NA-52, he said.
Hashmi said the government had set up a NADRA office in the courtyard of Bahria Town to give CNICs to employees easily, adding that the office had now been shifted outside Bahria Town in an area called Sawan Town.
A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani said issuing CNICs at someone’s doorstep was against NADRA’s decorum.
NADRA’s lawyer Raza Kazim told the court that he had not examined the applicant’s plea and needed time to file a reply. He said NADRA was an institution which had no concern with any influential person, including Bahria Town Chief Executive Malik Riaz and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan. He said the case was spoiling NADRA’s prestige.
NADRA Chief Administrator Tahir Akram denied issuance of 20,000 CNICs to Bahria Town employees and said only 2,000 applications had been received from Bahria Town till last year. The chief justice said the NADRA office in Swan Town should be closed down. Later, the court adjourned further hearing for three weeks.