Pakistan’s constitutional court sets aside verdict ordering demolition of Monal Restaurant

Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court on Monday set aside a Supreme Court verdict that had ordered the demolition of Monal Restaurant in Islamabad's Margalla Hills National Park.

The court accepted appeals filed by the Capital Development Authority and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad, and vacated an earlier stay order.

Why did the court set aside the Monal Restaurant demolition order?

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that ownership of the Monal Restaurant site must be decided independently by trial courts, without being influenced by observations in the Supreme Court's earlier judgment.

Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi said the previous verdict included findings on matters that were not part of the case before it.

What did the court instruct the trial courts to do?

The Constitutional Court directed the trial courts to expedite proceedings and dispose of the ownership case as quickly as possible. It also ruled that administrative matters connected to the restaurant would fall under the relevant regulatory authorities, not the courts. Rizvi told the proceedings the bench would decide the case according to law, not emotion, and that unnecessary observations would not be included in the final judgment.

What was the original Supreme Court ruling on Monal Restaurant?

The Supreme Court had ordered the demolition of Monal Restaurant on Aug. 21, 2024. The restaurant sits inside Margalla Hills National Park, a protected area overlooking Islamabad. That order had remained a point of legal dispute for nearly two years before Monday's reversal.

How does this ruling relate to the Nasla Tower case?

The Monal decision follows a related Federal Constitutional Court ruling on judicial authority and urban regulation.

On Thursday, the court recalled Supreme Court orders from 2018 and 2019 that had authorized Sindh's government to demolish illegally constructed buildings in Karachi, including the 15-story Nasla Tower on Sharae Faisal. The court said enforcement of building laws remains primarily a provincial responsibility, not a judicial one.

Who presided over the Monal Restaurant case?

Justice Aamer Farooq authored the Nasla Tower ruling while heading a two-judge Constitutional Court bench. That bench heard appeals originally filed before the Supreme Court, later transferred to the Constitutional Court following the 27th Constitutional Amendment. The Monal case followed a similar procedural path through the newly formed court.