ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Thursday raised questions over the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in 2024 and rejected the request seeking reopening of Monal restaurant.
A three-member bench comprising Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Rozi Khan Bareech, and Justice Syed Arshad Hussain Shah heard the review petition against the judgment demolishing the Monal Restaurant.
During the hearing, the federal government supported the review petition against the Supreme Court’s decision to demolish Monal Restaurant. However, Justice Rizvi observed while the decision recognised the rights of animals, what about human rights.
He also noted that a case regarding the renewal of the restaurant’s lease was pending in a civil court, while intra-court appeals of some other restaurants were also under hearing in the High Court.
The counsel for Monal Restaurant argued that the Supreme Court, through a single judgment, had ordered the disposal of multiple cases pending in different courts.
Justice Rizvi questioned why the point of deciding the matter without hearing all parties was not raised in the Supreme Court and why the lawyers had remained silent. The counsel responded that they stood before this court with the same respect as they did in the Supreme Court, to which the judge replied that a lawyer’s role is to raise legal arguments, not merely to stand respectfully.
During the hearing, the Additional Attorney General stated that a new law related to the Wildlife Board had been enforced in 2024, and all parties agreed that the cases pending in civil courts should proceed while the Supreme Court’s decision should be set aside.
Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi clarified that the court does not want to impose its decision on anyone like the Supreme Court, nor will any order be issued without hearing the stance of all parties.
The petitioners also requested the court to order the immediate reopening of Monal Restaurant, but the court rejected the request and adjourned the hearing until the second week of July.
It is pertinent to mention here that a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan on June 11, 2024 had ordered closure of all restaurants including Monal, operating in Margalla Hills in National Park after granting three-week time to the management of these restaurants for shifting their business to some other areas with the ruling that the matter pertains to preservation of the Park that belongs to the people of the country.
The court had declared that small kiosks situated on or around the Pir Sohawa Road in the National Park may continue to be operated provided they are licensed by the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board and strictly abide by their terms of licence, which must include collecting of all garbage generated by each and their respective customers and disposing it outside the precincts of the National Park and, if they are permitted to have a stove then they must also have a fire extinguisher.
