Green belt: Court unhappy over TMO’s ‘cover up’

Wants written proof that no food street is being set up in Shadbagh Scheme-II.

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday cautioned the Shalimar Town tehsil municipal officer (TMO) for covering up the cutting of trees on a green belt in Shadbagh Scheme-II area allegedly to set up a food street.

“No one is willing to reveal the real facts to the court,” Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed observed. He said that the authorities concerned should stop considering themselves above the law.

Justice Saeed was informed by TMO Khawar Jalil’s counsel that that the administration was not planning to set up a food street in the said area. He told the court that improvement work was being carried out on the green belt.

The judge said that the TMO by making contradictory statements was trying to hide the truth from the court. He said that government functionaries were paid from taxes paid by citizens and therefore they are accountable to the people.

The judge warned the TMO to tell the court the whole truth, otherwise action would be taken against those responsible. He said the court would not hesitate to summon the chief secretary if the required information was not submitted by the next hearing on June 6.

The court ordered the TMO to submit an affidavit stating that no food street was being set up in the said scheme. The judge also ordered him to furnish documentary proof to substantiate his statement.

The TMO tendered an unconditional apology to the court. Turning his request down, the judge told the TMO that if the affidavit was found false, strict action would be initiated against him.

Assistant advocate general Shujaat Ali Khan told the court that the Lahore commissioner and the DCO had also summoned the TMO, but he did not turn up before any one of them.

Petitioner’s counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique told the court that Rs6 million was being spent on the improvement of the green belt.

The judge was hearing a petition filed by Hafiz Moeen Ahmad, former naib nazim of the area, who said that the Parks and Horticulture Authority was removing a green belt in the area to convert it into a restaurant and a food street. The court had already stayed the cutting of trees and demolition of the green belt.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2011.