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Division Bench Reverses Single-Bench Judgment
A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday overturned a 2022 single-bench judgment that had declared the Pakistan Naval Farms and Naval Sailing Club on the banks of Rawal Lake illegal, also setting aside orders for the demolition of the club and proceedings against former naval chief Admiral (retd) Zafar Mahmood Abbasi.
The IHC division bench, comprising Justice Inaam Amin Minhas and Justice Shah Rukh Arjumand, accepted the intra-court appeals filed by the Ministry of Defence, former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral (retd) Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, and other petitioners.
Key Orders Set Aside
The division bench set aside the following directions from the 2022 judgment:
- The direction to demolish the Naval Sailing Club
- The order declaring the transfer of land to an office of Pakistan Navy headquarters illegal
- The directions concerning proceedings for alleged misconduct and criminal action against Admiral (retd) Abbasi
- The order directing the Auditor General to assess any loss caused to the national exchequer
Background of the 2022 Ruling
The case dates back to a petition challenging the establishment of Pakistan Naval Farms and the construction of the Naval Sailing Club near Rawal Lake. In January 2022, Justice Athar Minallah had ruled that the Pakistan Navy had no authority to undertake a real estate venture unrelated to its institutional functions. The court had declared both the Naval Farms and Sailing Club illegal and ordered the club to be demolished within three weeks.
The single bench had also held that the land occupied by the Navy near Rawal Lake had not been lawfully allotted or authorised and that the Sailing Club had been constructed on land in a protected national park area.
The judgment had been widely seen as a significant ruling on the limits of state institutions engaging in commercial and real estate activities, stressing the principle that no institution was above the law.
