IHC orders to demolish Navy Sailing Club on Rawal Lake

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday declared the Navy Sailing Club situated on Rawal Lake, Islamabad illegal and ordered to demolish within three weeks.

Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah announced the verdict which was reserved on January 6.

Islamabad High Court order states “Pakistan Army has an important status which is mandated in the constitution. The Navy doesn’t have the power to undertake a real estate venture. The name of the institution can’t be used for a real estate business.”

The Capital Development Authority didn’t have the authority to issue the NOC to the Navy, he observed. “Pakistan Navy encroached on the National Park Area. The sailing club is illegal and should be demolished.”

In his verdict Justice Athar Minallah remarked that former Naval chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, who approved the construction of the club, should be charged for misconduct and instructed authorities to initiate a criminal inquiry against him.

The court has also told the auditor-general to prepare an audit of the club and estimate the losses suffered by the national exchequer.

Petitioner Zeenat Saleem in 2020 filed a plea against the Navy Sailing Club in Islamabad. She took the stance that the construction of a commercial building in the Islamabad National Park is illegal.

Her petition states that the Rawal Dam provides water to the entire city of Rawalpindi and a club near the lake will contaminate it.