DC plans contempt of court plea against airport manager
[/caption]
ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Chitral is defying court orders for construction of a house on a private land in the vicinity of Chitral airport to enforce its unjust agenda, it is learnt.
Deputy Commissioner Chitral Rehmatullah Wazir had started construction of a house on a piece of land gifted to him by late Mehter Saif ul Mulk Nasir in appreciation of his services to the remote valley.
Well-placed sources confirmed to this correspondent that the CAA had obtained a stay order from civil court Chitral against the construction, which was later set aside by the sessions court of the district, allowing the deputy commissioner to complete the construction.
Rehmatullah Wazir after passing many hurdles has been able to complete the structure of the house but the CAA manager in a bid to justify his powers is continuously making propaganda against him for face saving. When contacted, the deputy commissioner Chitral Rehamatullah Wazir told Chitral Today over the phone from Chitral that it was the CAA manager who gave him a go-ahead signal for the construction of the house without raising any objection.
“This was the [CAA] manger who first prompted me to construct the house but when the house was near completion, he served a notice on me, demanding me to stop the construction completely forgetting his previous orders,” he lamented.
He said being a law-abiding citizen, he had no other option but to approach the court. The court listened to both the parties and vacated the stay order, he added. “But despite that the airport manage took it personally and started a propaganda against me,” he added.
As a last resort to resolve the nerve-wrecking issue amicably, the DC also offered the airport manager to purchase the land along with the constructed building if it was dangerous for the airport. But the CAA official is hell-bent on creating one hurdle after another, he claimed.
The DC said there are so many other houses in the vicinity of the airport but the CAA manger had no problem with those buildings. “This is like taking law into one’s own hand for which I’ve no option but to file a contempt of court petition against him,” he added. The CAA manger could not be contacted for comments despite several attempts. This correspondent also left a message to his subordinates for taking his version of the story but there was no response from his side till filing of this report at 11pm on Saturday.]]>
The DC seems trying to present himself as a victim at the hands of the airport manager. I wonder how in a country like Pakistan an airport manager can met out such a treatment to the chief executive officer of a district who also happens to be very close to the ANP-led provincial government. The narration by the DC as published in Chitral Today looks lacking substance as the danger to the flights from the house in point was pointed out by pilots of the PIA planes coming to Chitral. Later, the matter was taken up by the CAA and the accusation of a propaganda by the airport official does not hold water as far as I understand the matter.
It is very unfortunate that those supposed to implement law of he land and protect the lives of the citizens are behaving like law breakers. Had the house been owned by some ordinary person it would have long ago been razed to the ground without asking the owner. The DC should prove his claim of being a law-abiding citizen and a benefactor of Chitralis by demolishing the house himself, because it not only puts the lives of the passengers at risk but also runs the risk of suspending the already irregular flights to and from Chitral.
May I quote Chitral Today report: “Rehamatullah Wazir told Chitral Today over the phone from Chitral that it was the CAA manager who gave him a go-ahead signal for the construction of the house without raising any objection.” If this is true then Mr Rehamatullah should have no problem, present the NOC before court and sue the CAA Manager for defamation, collect money and use it for building his house.
Mr Rehamatullah is supposed to set an example for compliance of law. If he failed to take an NOC in writing then it is his fault, among all he should know that ignorance of law is no defence. If he relied on verbal approval of CAA Manager, may I ask respectfully what he considered CAA Manager to be? A Mehtar of Chitral? Did Mr Rehmatullah honestly believe the Manager CAA verbal approval can over rule the rules and regulation of the State of Pakistan?
Just for the information of others reading this, even President of Pakistan cannot relax/overrule passenger safety regulations for simple reason they come under basic rights of citizen’s protected under the Constitution of Pakistan. NO ONE has any authority to deny the rights protected by Constitution which include right to travel safely which includes air travel also.
If there are other people who have made constructions which are similar to Mr Rehmatullah then being DC of the area he should have not only stopped the construction of his own house but also have served notice [in his official capacity as the district administrator). After all, he is supposed to protect the lives of Chitralis including the air passengers and remove structures. If any of those violators had permissions/NOC in writing then it would be for CAA Manager to prove before the court why those were issued and why they are not a danger only the house of Mr Rehmatullah is a danger to travelling public.
Perhaps we should wait for CAA Manager to provide his side of the story. We would like to know what verbal approval he gave to Mr Rehamatullah and on what authority? What is the status of other houses [similar to Mr Rehamatullah’s house near the runway]?
Haplessly some of the people are backing Rehmatullah Wazir, the DC of Chitral. WAKIKO BIYARA PESIKO HUNOT KHASHAP. Same situation is going on here with the story of DCO. He looks like a king than a public servant. I fear that the people of Chitral, especially air passengers, will see the impact of this.
No one has the right to play with the lives of Chitralis travelling on the PIA service on Chitral-Peshawar and Chitral-Islamabad routes. So the government should take the construction of any house close to the runway seriously before anything happens. Creating hurdles for the pilots is also alarming as far as safety rules are concerned. Without running into long litigation and accusations and counter-accusations, the building should be abolished by the authorities concerned.
The DC has claimed that as a common law-abiding citizen he knocked the door of justice. But this claim of the DC belies his action which he took against some people of Drosh a few months back. They were sent to jail by the same DC only on the basis of a text messaging. So how can we say he is innocent as he is claiming to be now. It is also unfortunate that distinguished figures of Chitral are strengthening the presence and role of outsiders in Chitral for their vested interests. The gift of the land near Chitral airport to the DC by the late mehtar is a case in point. Instead of bestowing the DC with the piece of land it would have been better for the Mehtar to reserve it for some fruitful project. Had the Mehtar done so its consequences would have been helpful for the Chitralis.