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ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday ruled that earlier Supreme Court (SC) and Islamabad High Court (IHC) decisions that led to the demolition of Monal Restaurant and other commercial establishments within Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) constituted an exceptional transgression of judicial power, resulting in a “grave miscarriage of justice”.
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.
In a short order, a three-member FCC bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi accepted the review petitions filed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), challenging the SC’s Aug 21, 2024 directive.
In that order, it was held that any lease, license, allotment, or permission granted for restaurant operations within the protected MHNP was contrary to the Islamabad Wildlife (Protection, Preservation and Management) Ordinance of 1979 and thus had no legal effect.
