By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Thursday grilled the federal capital’s top civic agency for not paying compensation to the people from whom land had been acquired for development purposes. Land belonging to their forefathers had been snatched from the people but they were still being pushed from pillar to post for compensation, remarked the chief justice. Everyone should feel ashamed, he remarked. “It is a reflection of how this country is being managed.” Hearing a matter related to payment of compensation after land acquisition in the federal capital, he observed that the elite were ruling Islamabad and the poor won’t get even the money in exchange of for their own property.
The CDA (Capital Development Authority) should die of shame, said Chief Justice Minallah. He also observed that the prime minister was right in saying that there were two Pakistan – one for the rich and powerful and the other for the poor. If the compensation had not been disbursed then the only thing the court could say was that the country wasn’t be run according to law, the IHC chief justice noted. However, he warned the petitioner’s counsel that the application would be dismissed along with the imposition of a fine in case of any misstatement.
In his arguments, the lawyer informed the court that the award (land acquisition) was done in 1995 but his client was still waiting for compensation.
