ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has declared former chief justice Qazi Faez Isa’s order for the demolition of Monal Restaurant null and void, days after the same court overturned Justice Gulzar Ahmed’s verdict in the Nasla Tower case in Karachi.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi accepted appeals filed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Metropolitan City, and also lifted the stay order that had remained in place through the proceedings.
The court ruled that trial courts hearing the matter would determine the question of ownership independently, without being influenced by the observations made in the earlier judicial proceedings. It directed the trial courts to decide all pending cases related to the matter as expeditiously as possible, while administrative issues arising from the case would be taken up by the relevant regulatory bodies.
During the hearing, Justice Rizvi observed that several important points had not been taken into consideration in the Supreme Court’s original decision. He also expressed displeasure over the manner in which the case had been filed and the review petition subsequently submitted.
The judge remarked that the earlier decision contained material that was not connected to the facts of the case, adding that the court would decide matters in light of law and evidence, not sentiment.
When counsel for Monal, Ahsan Bhawan, told the bench that the earlier judgment had examined the case in detail and meticulously, Justice Rizvi responded that there was no need to praise judges in court, and that the bench would issue whatever order was warranted by the hearing and the record.
Justice Rizvi further remarked that court judgments were not the place for embellishment or storytelling — invoking the Urdu phrase “Alif Laila ki kahani” and said that verdicts must be confined strictly to the relevant facts and legal points of a case. He added that upon reading the earlier decision, it was evident that it contained material that had no bearing on the actual court proceedings.
