IHC halts eviction of One Constitution Avenue apartment owners

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday restrained the authorities concerned from evacuating owners of One Constitution Avenue apartments.

The court issued the order while hearing intra-court appeals filed by sub-lessees of the project.

The court said that it would hear the full case later, but granted interim relief on the request for a stay order.

“For now, we have to see the plea only to the extent of the stay,” the court observed during proceedings.

The court also questioned whether the issue of apartment owners had been examined when the matter was previously placed before the Supreme Court.

On the court’s direction, counsel for the Capital Development Authority (CDA) read out a relevant paragraph of the earlier judgment concerning the apartment owners.

“Why were the people who entered the building not recognised?” the court asked during the hearing.

It also inquired whether a completion certificate had been issued for the building.

CDA’s lawyer informed the court that the completion certificate had not yet been issued.

IHC Judge Justice Azam Khan remarked that if residents had begun occupying the building without a completion certificate, it raised questions about the regulator’s role.

“Was the CDA asleep when residents started living there without a completion certificate?” he observed.

The counsel for the appellants stated that CDA had appointed an administrator for the building on March 12, 2023.

Earlier on May 4, the IHC had said that buyers of apartments in the One Constitution Avenue project do not hold ownership rights following the cancellation of the development’s lease.

The court had upheld the CDA’s decision to terminate the lease of the multi-billion-rupee project, dismissing petitions filed by the developer M/s BNP (Pvt) Ltd, investors and other stakeholders.

It ruled that apartment purchasers cannot claim independent ownership rights over the properties and may instead pursue recovery of their investments directly from the developer.