CDA ordered to apply machinery for Monal restaurant’s removal

Following the Supreme Court’s directives, the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) has taken over the Monal and La Montana restaurants in Margalla Hills National Park to demolish the buildings and restore the area to its natural state.

To facilitate this measure, the wildlife board has asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to supply personnel and heavy equipment needed for the demolition of these eateries. The IWMB reportedly looked for machines to clear the debris and structure.

“In accordance with the Supreme Court’s (decision), we are getting ready to start the destruction of the structures now that IWMB has successfully regained control.

We respectfully ask that the required equipment and personnel be provided in this regard, either through the CDA’s Machinery Procurement Office (MPO) or in another way as necessary. read the IWMB letter that was sent on September 12.

Thanking the CDA for their support in obtaining ownership of the Monal and La Montana eateries, the letter was written to the CDA environment member. The proprietors of the two eateries, according to sources, were left with no choice but to leave the premises in question after the Supreme Court denied their review petitions.

But they expect the CDA, which built Monal and then rented it out for fifteen years, to challenge the directives from August 21 in a SC review petition.

The CDA has not yet made a decision about the review petition, but even in the event that it does, it will wait for the “opportune moment” before proceeding to the highest court. The CDA established Monal, which leased the restaurant for 15 years starting in 2006.

Additionally, the court denied the review applications last week. The court made the harsh judgment that Luqman Ali Afzal, the proprietor of the Monal Group of Companies, was no better than a trespasser with no legal authority to be in the protected region.

The Monal Group of Companies, the Capital View Point Restaurant (La Montana), Sunshine Heights (Pvt) Ltd, and retired brigadier Falak Naz Bangash of the defense ministry filed a series of review petitions, which were denied by a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Isa and including Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Naeem Akhtar Afghan.