ISLAMABAD – Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday appeared unimpressedby Malik Riaz’s charity work — which the property tycoon mentioned morethan once during the hearing — pointing out that charity does not make upfor occupying land illegally.
“Charity work cannot be done by bribing people,” Justice Nisar pointedlysaid to Riaz, who swore that he had never bribed anyone.
Riaz appeared before the Supreme Court in a case pertaining to Bahria TownKarachi issuing notices to people who have already been allotted plots,commercial buildings or build-up units to make payments to a bank accountset up by the housing society.
He told the court that he had built Bahria Town Karachi so that “Pakistancan grow from a third world country to a first world country”.
“We planned construction projects in the areas where people did not go [dueto poor security],” he said, directing the court’s attention towards thefact that the housing society project also included the “world’s thirdlargest mosque”, as well as an old-age home, a zoo, schools, and otherfacilities.
Justice Nisar, however, told Riaz that the court could not “allow [Riaz] tocontinue with illegal ventures because of his religious projects”.
“You cannot Illegal occupy land and then do charity,” he added.
*’Violation of court order’*
Earlier today, the chief justice had barred the housing society fromcollecting outstanding payments, saying that the administration of BahriaTown Karachi had violated court orders by opening up a separate bankaccount to collect outstanding payments.