IHC suspends its order to dissolve CDA

ISLAMABAD: In a recent development, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Division Bench has suspended the order of a single bench that directed the dissolution of the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

The decision came during the hearing of an intra-court appeal filed by the CDA against the earlier ruling.

The bench comprising Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Inam Amin Minhas heard the appeal and suspended the single bench order by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani. The earlier ruling had directed the federal government to dissolve the CDA and transfer all its powers to the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC).

Advocate Kashif Ali Malik appeared for CDA during the proceedings. The court asked what kind of petitions were filed, which resulted in the dissolution order. The counsel for parties explained that the petitions were filed for the removal of ROW charges from the fuel stations on Islamabad’s main highways, and not for the dissolution of the CDA itself.

The bench asked counsels if they would argue on behalf of the dissolution order; to this, the lawyers clearly explained that neither was the dissolution of CDA at their request nor would they defend such an order. With such clarifications, the Division Bench stayed the said order of the single bench regarding the local government elections as well as the dissolution of CDA.

It is relevant here to mention that Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had, in the last week of June, directed the federal government to dissolve the CDA and transfer its powers and authority to the IMC. That verdict was on two writ petitions against a 2015 SRO under which the CDA imposed Right of Way charges on petrol and CNG stations located along major highways in the capital.

Justice Kayani had remarked that the CDA, by imposing direct taxes and access charges, ignored the Local Government Act 2015, which made such a move illegal under the CDA Ordinance 1960.