Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Guest Houses Association Islamabad has got operation by the Building and Control Section (BCS) of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) stopped through filing a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Owners of 111 guest houses in the posh areas of Islamabad and 66 guest houses in the middle class sectors filed a petition in the high court stating that the ongoing operation by the CDA against guest houses is illegal and baseless as the guest houses don’t fall in the category of commercial use of residential areas.

President GHAI, Haroon Abbasi sent a letter to the director BCS CDA. It is said in this letter that about 500 owners and employees of guest houses lodged a strong protest along with posters and banners on June, 9 outside the CDA headquarters against the June 8 operation by the CDA.

The letter said that GHAI appealed to the chairman CDA to stop the illegal action while their case is pending at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) after ir was remanded back by the Supreme Court (SC). Three hearings have taken place and the judgement has been reserved.

An owner of a guest house told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that the issue had been resolved with the civic agency administration through talks. We hope that no action would be taken by CDA till the decision of the case by the IHC.

He said that a single bench decision in the chambers on January 21, 2015 was reversed by the SC in CPLAs No 372 and 373/2015 and the cases were remanded for fresh adjudication.

It was said in the letter that the director BCS Shafi Murwat extended his hand for holding table talk during the protest. It was decided at the meeting that GHAI would appear in the SC as party. GHAI committed to the director BCS, CDA that the guest houses would be a party in the next hearing of the SC and would present their view point.

The Director BCS CDA Shafi Murwat told Daily Times that a letter had been received from GHAI but the decision on GHAI and guest houses stood reserved in the high court. GHAI has obtained a no stay order of the court on the basis of which the operation can be stopped.

He said that operation was started on the clear orders of the SC. 228 houses were sealed and were vacated. The owners of 649 houses which were being used for commercial purpose vacated the offices voluntarily. 177 guest houses were still operating in Islamabad. If a no stay order was obtained and presented by GHAI during Ramadan then action would be taken against them after Ramadan.