SC orders audit of Gun and Country Club

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered an audit of the Gun and Country Club (GCC) Islamabad within one month.

The apex court directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to resolve the issue of lease agreement and other matters in consultation with the federal government.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Omar Ata Bandial heard the case on Monday.

The chief justice said that the GCC administration had already hired a company for internal audit, and asked them to complete the audit within two weeks and submit the report to the court.

He said that the court would hear the case further after reviewing the audit report.

The chief justice, while talking to the additional secretary of the Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry (IPC), said that the GCC was facing management problems due to administrative issues.

The chief justice stressed not to take the issue as a matter of ego as it was a national asset.

The additional secretary assured the bench that they would present a bill in parliament during the current week to regulate the GCC.

The chief justice said that the GCC was established to provide facilities to people and not for making profits.

Lawyer Naeem Bukhari, who is a member of the interim management committee of the GCC, told the court that he would be going abroad for a month and requested the hearing to be adjourned until his return.

The chief justice replied with a smile, saying that the case would be heard by another bench after one month. The court then adjourned the hearing of the case for one month.

The GCC was established in 2002 as a target shooting facility for the 2004 South Asian Games but later was converted into an entity that catered to the affluent class.

It has several shooting ranges, a swimming pool, tennis courts and restaurants for its almost 1,000 members. Later, a marriage hall was also constructed on the club’s premises.

Suo notu notice of the matter

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of the allotment of land for the GCC in 2011.

On July 9, 2018, while hearing a case relating to the illegal construction of the GCC and a marriage hall on the land meant for the Pakistan Sports Board, the top court had declared the club as illegal and ordered handing over possession of the venue to the sports board.

The top court had ordered the Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry (IPC) to take over the management of the club and appointed an interim managing committee.

On November 29, 2018, following a direction from the apex court, the CDA started work on tracing the physical boundaries of the GCC in Islamabad, with officials saying that they would complete demarcation within two days.

CDA officials had said that they had found some encroachments on CDA land by GCC during demarcation.

On February 19, 2021, the Supreme Court extended the tenure of the interim management of GCC for four months.

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At that time, Lawyer Naeem Bukhari told the bench that the administrative committee had decided to form a new structure of the club similar to that of Islamabad Club.

The IPC secretary had said legislation would be required for this purpose.

On April 14, 2021, the CDA issued notices to GCC for violating building by-laws and encroaching upon state land.

The CDA said that the GCC had constructed illegal structures on its premises without obtaining approval from the civic agency.

The CDA also said that GCC had encroached upon 2.5 acres of land belonging to the civic agency.

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