One Constitution Avenue Case Returns to IHC as JIT Findings Awaited

The Islamabad High Court is set to resume hearing the long running One Constitution Avenue dispute on Monday, with a government ordered joint investigation team having completed its inquiry, though its findings have not yet been publicly disclosed, according to Dawn, published 16 August 2026.

What Is Actually Being Decided

The case centres on the Capital Development Authority's cancellation of the lease for One Constitution Avenue, a 13.5 acre residential and commercial project at the end of Constitution Avenue next to the Convention Centre in Islamabad's Red Zone. An earlier IHC single bench judgment, issued on 1 May 2026, upheld CDA's cancellation and ruled that apartment buyers do not hold ownership rights, leaving them to pursue legal remedies against the developer for recovery of their investment rather than any claim on the building itself. A division bench subsequently suspended the practical effect of that ruling while intra court appeals, filed separately by apartment owners and by the Bank of Punjab, are considered.

How the Dispute Began

The project traces back to a 2005 lease agreement between CDA and the developer, M/s BNP (Private) Limited, for construction of a five star hotel and service apartments. BNP purchased the 13.5 acre plot for Rs4.888 billion, payable in 15 annual instalments backed by a bank guarantee, according to The News. The project was later converted into the luxury residential and commercial complex known today as One Constitution Avenue. CDA cancelled the lease over what it assessed as a Rs17.5 billion liability, of which only around Rs2.9 billion, roughly 16.6 percent, had been paid. The lease had actually been terminated once before, in 2016, then restored by the Supreme Court in 2019 subject to strict financial conditions that were subsequently not met in full, a background detailed in Dawn's coverage of the residents' later stay order.

The Late Night Eviction and Its Aftermath

Following the IHC's initial ruling, CDA launched an overnight operation in late April, taking possession of the plot with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and CDA Chairman Sohail Ashraf present alongside a heavy police contingent. Residents were issued notices to vacate within 12 hours. The building comprises 253 apartments, most unoccupied though some residents lived there permanently, alongside three floors sub leased to the Bank of Punjab for a branch measuring 25,420 square feet, according to Pakistan Today's reporting on the bank's subsequent appeal. The scale and speed of the eviction drew immediate political attention, prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to halt further action the same week and constitute a high level committee, led by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, to hear all affected parties.

Why the Bank of Punjab and Apartment Owners Both Appealed

Both the Bank of Punjab and a separate group of apartment owners, including prominent figures such as former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani and former air chief Mujahid Anwar Khan, filed intra court appeals against the single bench ruling. The Bank of Punjab argued it was directly affected because BNP had obtained a loan from the bank and later used part of the proceeds to pay CDA, while the apartment owners' counsel argued that paragraph 30 of the single bench judgment adversely affected their rights even though their possession and occupation of the apartments had already been formally recognised by the court. On 25 May, the IHC restrained CDA from taking any coercive action against residents pending further hearings, with the court told no completion certificate had ever been issued for the building.

The Prime Minister's Committee and the JIT

On 30 June, Prime Minister Sharif ordered the formation of a joint investigation team, acting on the recommendation of the law minister led committee, to examine the legal and administrative matters surrounding the project. The JIT was headed by a Grade 21 officer from the National Accountability Bureau and included representatives from the Federal Investigation Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the Federal Board of Revenue, the Intelligence Bureau, and Inter Services Intelligence, with a 60 day mandate to report back to the prime minister. Sources at the time told Dawn that the committee's own review had already established that legitimate residents' rights existed, and that any eviction would require the federal government or CDA to compensate them at market rate, potentially double the original purchase price, though this was described as unconfirmed pending the committee's formal findings.

New Details Emerging Ahead of Monday's Hearing

According to Dawn's reporting ahead of this week's resumed hearing, additional details have surfaced in the court record, including a 2012 interim arbitration award issued by current Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who at the time acted as an arbitrator alongside a former Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce president, to settle an ownership dispute between BNP's two main partners. Separately, the court file has revealed that former Supreme Court judge Ijazul Ahsan, while previously representing BNP as counsel, later sat on an IHC bench that restored the project's lease despite CDA's objections, a restoration that reportedly enabled the creation of third party interests and led the builder to hand over 240 flats to buyers.

What This Means for Apartment Buyers

For the roughly 240 to 253 apartment buyers connected to this project, including overseas Pakistanis and other bona fide purchasers, the case remains genuinely unresolved. The IHC's May ruling that buyers hold no ownership rights, only a claim against the developer, has not been overturned, but its practical enforcement has been suspended while the appeals proceed, and the JIT's still undisclosed findings could materially affect how the case unfolds from here. No outcome should be assumed before the appeals are decided and the JIT's findings are made public. Buyers and stakeholders in other Islamabad developments facing developer default or CDA lease disputes should watch this case closely, since any final ruling on third party purchaser rights here could set a meaningful precedent for how Islamabad's courts handle similar disputes elsewhere in the city.

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Sources

1. Dawn, "More facts surface ahead of high profile One Constitution project case hearing", 24 May 2026: https://www.dawn.com/news/2002704/more-facts-surface-ahead-of-high-profile-one-constitution-project-case-hearing
2. Dawn, "IHC rules buyers of apartments at One Constitution Avenue have no ownership rights", 4 May 2026: https://www.dawn.com/news/1997452/ihc-rules-buyers-of-luxury-apartments-at-one-constitution-avenue-have-no-ownership-rights
3. Dawn, "PM Shehbaz orders setting up of JIT to probe Islamabad's One Constitution Avenue project issues", 30 June 2026: https://www.dawn.com/news/2011693/pm-shehbaz-orders-setting-up-of-jit-to-probe-islamabads-one-constitution-avenue-project-issues
4. Dawn, "IHC restrains CDA from dispossessing residents of One Constitution Avenue", 25 May 2026: https://www.dawn.com/news/2003011/ihc-restrains-cda-from-dispossessing-residents-of-one-constitution-avenue
5. Pakistan Today, "One Constitution Avenue ruling challenged in IHC": https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2026/05/12/bank-of-punjab-flat-owners-challenge-one-constitution-avenue-ruling
6. The News, "One Constitution Avenue: 13.5 acre plot purchased for Rs4.88bn": https://www.thenews.pk/print/1413323-one-constitution-avenue-13-5-acre-plot-purchased-for-rs4-88bn