Plot allocated for public welfare cannot be changed: CJP

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) has constituted a commission to review the construction of a plaza on a plot of a swimming pool and present its report before the court after the inspection of place.

A three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar took up the case for hearing on Wednesday. The chief justice remarked that shops and the multi-storey building were constructed in the plot meant for a swimming pool.

“Capital Development Authority (CDA) isn’t a money making organisation. How the plot of a swimming pool was changed by receiving money? All of the works are done in complicity with each other. The position of the plot allotted for the public welfare can’t be changed,” he said.

The counsel for CDA replied that the position of the plot has not been changed. “Two shops which are constructed around the swimming pool are illegal. More facilities should have been provided along with the swimming pool but now get inspect the venue by sending the additional attorney general therein,” the chief justice remarked.

The counsel said that the swimming pool was in the basement. “How the shops were constructed on the community plot, the shops were also constructed around the swimming pool, like that were also constructed around the Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore,” the chief justice said.

He ordered the authorities to demolish the illegal construction by themselves. “Why should not we order to return the rent that was collected from the shops,” he questioned. Later, the court constituted a commission under the additional attorney general for inspection.

In its order, the court said that the shops were constructed around the community swimming pool. The commission should present report about encroachments after inspecting the venue.