ISLAMABAD – One of the iconic eatery of the capital city, Monal restaurant, has started paying monthly rent to the Remount Vaterinary & Farms Directorate GHQ Rawalpindi after civic authorities concerned are silent amid land ownership claim by Pakistan Army at Margallah Hills.
The leaseholder of Monal Restaurant paid Rs484008 via pay order number 06366856 as arrears of rental payment for September 2019, Rs1300000 via pay order number 06366858 as rental of November 2019 and Rs910000 via pay order number 06366902 as rental of December 2019 to the DG RV&F GHQ. All the drafts were issued from the Bank Al Habib G-9 Branch Islamabad, The Nation reported.
The restaurant is built in the centre of the Margalla Hills National Park, an area which comes inside 8655.62 acres of land demarcated as military grassland in 2017 after the matter was taken up the army with the Capital Development Authority (CDA).
In the light of the demarcation, the restaurant, which was constructed by the CDA in 2005 and it was leased in 2006 to Luqman Ali Afzal for 15 years, was asked provide lease documents in addition to the payment of arrears and monthly rents to RV&F directorate instead of Capital Development Authority, the newspaper said.
The leaseholder wrote several letters to the CDA and MCI to seek guidance on the matter as he was previously paying the rent to the civic bodies. However, he got no response on the matter and started paying rent to the army’s department.
Meanwhile, the MCI had sent a notice to the leaseholder during the last week of December 2019, directing him to pay the rent to it until the matter is decided by the competent forum.
