Park and Ride Plaza: LDA to file reply on auctions by April 15

CDGL says the land belongs to Punjab govt, stay order has lapsed.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to file a reply till April 15 on an application requesting a stay order on the auction of 26 shops and a restaurant at the first floor of Park and Ride Plaza at Liberty Market.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed of the LHC issued this order on the petition of Muhammad Azhar Siddique of the Mohammad and Ahmed law firm, shop owners Mohammad Saleem Hafeez, Mian Mohammad Haroon of Messrs MelRose Inn, Arshad Kareem Qureshi of Messrs Toy Land, Mohammad Zakariya Basheer Malik, Arif Mehmood of Messrs Liberty Gift Centre, Syed Dilawar Shah of Messrs Alnafay Shopping Mall.

The petitioners had earlier moved a petition against the construction of the plaza. They have now filed an application seeking a stay order against the auction of the shops in the plaza. The petitioners’ counsel said that the construction of plaza was illegal as it was constructed on land meant for a park.

He said the customers were not being allowed to park their vehicles in front of the shops, causing anxiety to both the petitioners and the customers.

He submitted that after the LHC had issued pre-admission notice to the LDA and other respondents on February 9, 2011, they were trying to sell the shops in the plaza to make it more difficult for the plaza to be pulled down.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2011.