ISLAMABAD-The Islamabad High Court has been shifted to its new building but in violation of the Building Control Regulations 2020 as the new building was occupied without obtaining a completion certificate from the Capital Development Authority.
Earlier, the operations of the Islamabad High Court were being run from a building situated at Sector G-10 however now all the courts and allied facilities have been shifted to a new building, which is located on Constitution Avenue adjacent to the building of the Radio Pakistan.
The court starts functioning from Monday in the new premises,  however; according to the Building Control Section of the CDA the said building was occupied in violation of Building Control Regulations 2020 as it lacks a completion certificate.
The completion certificate is a prerequisite to occupy any residential or commercial building in Islamabad according to the section 2.8 of aforementioned regulations. The said clause provided further that if an owner will occupy a building without obtaining completion certificate, then a fine at the rate of Rs 50000 per annum in case of residential and Rs 100000 per annum in case of commercial buildings would be imposed by the authority.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Islamabad High Court’s new building is not a sole case of occupation without permission but a majority of the commercial buildings are occupied without getting completion certificate from the civic authority.
In most of the cases, the owners of the commercial buildings deviate from their approved building plans and to avoid demolishing and heavy fines to rectify their violations they prefer to occupy their buildings without the completion certificate. A senior officer of the building control has said that in case of Islamabad High Court, their concerned officers should be more careful as the completion certificate is not just a piece of paper but it has several pre checks to ascertain the suitability of any building for occupancy.
When contacted by the Nation, the IHC Public Relation Officer   Muhammad Asif has said that the matter pertains to the engineering section and he will respond after getting their input. A written question was also extended to him but he did not reply till filing of this report.