IHC-afp670
Policemen stand guard in front of the Islamabad High Court building. — Photo by AFP/File

ISLAMABAD, July 17: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday, expressing dissatisfaction over the reply filed by the officials of Capital Development Authority (CDA) in contempt of court proceedings regarding their meeting with Faisal Sakhi Butt, fixed July 20 for their indictment.

The court also directed the CDA chairman to appear in the court on the said date.

The CDA officials, director general, planning Ghulam Sarwar Sandhu, deputy director general Syed Imran Shah, director municipal administration Mansoor Ahmed Khan and directors Riaz Ahmed Randhawa, and Haseen Raza Zaidi, in their reply said some workers of a political party were trying to harass and blackmail the CDA officers so they met Mr Butt to counter their move.

The court on May 14 while hearing land allotment case filed by advocate Niazullah Niazi had restrained Mr Butt from interfering into the CDA affairs and also directed the authority’s officials not to meet him.

DG planning Sandhu in his separate reply told the court that he was also upset over the political harassment into his affairs and his act of staring at the learned judge was unintentional. The court had taken exception to his attitude at the last hearing and sent him to jail for a day.

The court order, however, said that the reply filed by the CDA officials was yet another attempt to mislead the court as they intentionally and purposely refused to furnish the factual details. It said: “Sufficient material is available on the basis of which charge may be framed against the CDA officials on July 20.”

Hearing another petition seeking court decree against the notification for the appointment of Mr Butt as prime minister’s chief coordinator for Islamabad, the court observed that the former prime minister appointed him after April 26, the date of his conviction and after the Supreme Court judgment, his appointment has also become a closed chapter.

He, however, directed the CDA chairman Farkhand Iqbal to appear in person in order to explain how Mr Butt got involved in the civic body’s affairs.

Yet in another related matter, in which PPP senator Babar Awan had challenged the alleged illegal allotments and auctions of residential and commercial sites to influential people, the court again directed the CDA to submit complete details.

Earlier, the court had directed the civic body to submit the record on July 17, but Athar Minallah, its counsel, sought more time.

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