Islamabad Court Rejects Urgent Plea to Reopen Monal Restaurant
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court has rejected a request for the immediate reopening of the Monal Restaurant, while hearing a case related to its closure and a review petition filed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).
A three-member bench headed by Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi heard the case. During the proceedings, the federal government supported the review petition against the earlier decision to demolish Monal Restaurant.
The court, however, dismissed the plea seeking immediate reopening of the restaurant.
During the hearing, Justice Rizvi remarked that according to a previous Supreme Court ruling, “rights of animals are recognized but not of humans,” adding that the lease cancellation case involving Monal was pending before a civil court, while some related intra-court appeals were also still under consideration in the High Court.
The judge questioned why the issue of hearing all relevant parties was not raised earlier in the Supreme Court proceedings, asking why lawyers remained silent at that stage.
Senior lawyer Ahsan Bhoon stated that they were appearing before the court with the same respect as in the Supreme Court. In response, the bench observed that the role of a lawyer is to raise legal arguments, not to stand like courtiers out of formality, and added that no substantial legal grounds had been presented in the CDA’s review petition.
The Additional Attorney General informed the court that a new Wildlife Board law had been introduced in 2024. Ahsan Bhoon argued that all parties agreed the matter should proceed in the civil court.
However, the Additional Attorney General stated that all lawyers had agreed the Supreme Court’s earlier judgment should be set aside. The bench responded that courts do not function on consensus alone and emphasized that such decisions require detailed reasoning.
The court further remarked that it did not want to impose its decision in the manner of the Supreme Court, adding that overturning a Supreme Court judgment cannot be done through mutual agreement alone and requires a detailed judicial order.
The hearing was adjourned until the second week of July for further proceedings.
