ISLAMABAD: The law ministry has appointed a favoured lawyer as the chief legal adviser (CLA) of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), just a few months before the term of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) led federal government expires, according to a report by a private media outlet.
A notification issued by the law ministry on Jan 15, 2018, said: “The [Law] Division appoints Hafiz Hifzur Rehman Syed, advocate… as the chief legal adviser, in the CDA… The department concerned may entrust its legal matters/cases to the aforesaid chief legal advisor”.
It ended with the note that the notification has been issued with the approval of the secretary to law and justice division in consultation with the attorney general.
The newly-appointed CLA Rehman is the son of senior lawyer Hafiz S.A. Rehman, a close friend of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law Barrister Zafarullah Khan.
Rehman was working as the CDA’s legal adviser, but resigned on April 28, 2017, citing “personal reasons”.
He resigned with remarks that, “due to personal reasons, I cannot continue as the legal adviser of the CDA, Islamabad”.
It may be mentioned that after Rehman tendered his resignation, there were rumors that he might be made the chairman of the Drug Court of Islamabad, but the move was opposed by PML-N Lawyers’ Forum, as they wanted to keep the slot for their own man, since the outgoing chairman of the court was also a member of the PML-N Lawyers’ Forum.
Rehman’s re-appointment comes as the government seeks to regularise certain projects, which have been declared illegal by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The committee has sought the input from the CDA over a plan to regularise the lease of a multi-billion-rupee plot to M/s BNP, declared illegal by the IHC.
In March last year, IHC Justice Athar Minallah declared the construction of luxury apartments on the land meant for the luxury Grand Hyatt Hotel illegal and upheld the CDA’s move to cancel the lease of the 13.5-acre plot.
