Lawyers breaking encroachment laws

Members of legal fraternity set up brick and mortar offices under Lahore Bridge

LAHORE: It is no secret that the problem of encroachments persists in the provincial capital, but lawyers have set a new precedent by establishing brick and mortar offices under the Lahore Bridge on main Ferozepur Road.

These structures are a gross violation of civic laws, legal experts outlined. Local resident Hanif Bhatti complains that traffic wardens deployed in the area do not allow common citizens to park their motorcycle on the street to avoid traffic jams. Even the local administration has been banned from parking vehicles under the bridge. The lawyers, however, seem to have found a way to establish dozens of brick and mortar offices right under the noses of relevant authorities, the resident complains.

Street hawker Ghulam Rasool says Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had started its rule by demolishing the shops and houses of thousands of underprivileged citizens across the country. “However, it has not been able to rein in those in a position of power.” He bemoans that traffic wardens do not allow street vendors to sell their merchandise on the roadside to avoid congestion, but lawyers’ clients are free to park their motorcycles and cars on the main thoroughfare. “This clearly indicates that there is no change in the country. We still have two different laws for the rich and the poor,” he underlines.

A trader, Muhammad Imran, says the government should find out a permanent solution of this problem by imposing strict penalties on encroachers. “Successive governments adopted ad hoc measures to deal with this chronic issue and failed to fix it permanently,” he says. Imran suggests that the government, city developer, local administration and traffic police should resolve this matter through joint efforts. He believes that traffic problems will persist if there is no significant change to the present circumstances.

A senior lawyer, requesting anonymity to avoid confrontation with the legal fraternity, says these structures are clearly encroachments and a gross violation of law. “The local administration should take indiscriminate action and demolish all these illegal buildings,” he stresses. “It is just the uncompromising attitude of my colleagues; otherwise one could easily find a reasonable office space for a few thousand rupees near the courts,” he concludes.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2019.