FCC questions SC judgment ordering demolition of restaurants in Margalla Hills National Park

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Thursday questioned a 2024 judgment of the Supreme Court (SC) which had paved the way for demolishing the infrastructure developed by the Monal Group of Companies, La Montana and Gloria Jeans, inside the picturesque Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP).

The SC had ordered the closure of Monal and the adjacent La Montana restaurant on August 21, 2024, and they were closed the next month to protect the park’s biodiversity.

Headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, a three-judge FCC bench took up a review petition moved by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) challenging the Supreme Court’s (SC) directions to the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) to take possession of restaurants — namely Monal, La Montana and Gloria Jeans — situated inside the MHNP. The CDA and the Islamabad Capital Territory Police were also ordered to assist the wildlife board in this regard.

The SC had also ordered that the entrances to the area where the restaurants were located be barricaded, after which the infrastructure would be demolished — with minimal disturbance to wildlife and without damage to the trees of the national park.

On Sept 10 the same year, the SC had dismissed a similar set of review petitions moved by the Monal Group of Companies, the Capital View Point Restaurant (La Montana), Sunshine Heights (Pvt) Ltd, and Brig (retd) Falak Naz Bangash of the Defence Ministry.

While rejecting the review petitions, the SC had also termed the status of Monal Group’s Luqman Ali Afzal as no better than that of a trespasser, saying he had no legal right to continue possession of the land at the MHNP.

Likewise, the running of restaurants by the owner of La Montana and Gloria Jeans was also in disregard of the provisions of the Islamabad Wildlife (Protection, Preservation and Management) Ordinance.

During Thursday’s hearing, the federal government, through Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Aamir Rehman, supported the CDA’s review petition against the demolition orders concerning the restaurants. It stated that the judgment was not sustainable in the eyes of the law, as besides Monal, around 113 other similar structures still existed in the Margalla Hills.

During the hearing, the FCC also raised questions over the SC’s decision to demolish the restaurants, stating that the judgment suggested that animals had rights but not humans.

Justice Rizvi recalled that the impugned judgment came despite the fact that Monal’s lease revision case was pending before the civil court, in addition to intra-court appeals by some restaurants pending before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Senior counsel Ahsan Bhoon, on behalf of the restaurants, contended that all parties were in agreement that the case should be allowed to proceed in the civil court.

However, Justice Rizvi observed that courts are never run on the basis of agreements between parties, saying that the kind of decision the SC had given could not be overturned by consensus among them.

He indicated that a detailed order would be issued if it was decided that the SC’s orders were to be overturned, stating that the FCC did not want to impose its decision “just like that”. The proceedings were then adjourned until the second week of July.

Through its 2024 judgment, the SC had observed that the operators of these restaurants, and those who permitted them to operate, had disregarded the integrity of the national park, ravaged its trees and flora, and displaced and disturbed endemic bird and animal life.

It also stated that the natural environment of the national park was adversely affected, alongside its functions such as acting as a catchment area for rainfall and facilitating the recharge of springs and streams.

An astronomical environmental cost was also borne by the public and would continue to be borne by future generations, the SC warned.