Botanical Garden’s size disputed

Landowners say govt encroaching on their property

ISLAMABAD:

The size of the Botanical Garden and National Park at Bani Gala is 583 acres, the counsel for landowners told the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday challenging government claims of 725 acres.

He said that the government had wrongfully occupied the property of his clients. The government has yet to present documents to back its claim.

Subsequently, SC summoned the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) and Forest Department officials in a suo-moto case about encroachment in the Bani Gala Botanical Garden.

A three-member SC bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, the Additional Advocate General Punjab said the court had ordered demarcation of the botanical garden in the forest land case, which could not be done due to non-availability of some documents.

Justice Bandial observed said that the demarcation order was issued by the Supreme Court in 2017 but no progress had been made.

Supreme Court in 2017 had banned illegal cutting of trees and encroachment of land in Bani Gala Botanical Gardens and National Park. The mushroom growth of housing was a threat to the protected area demarcated by the Geographical Survey of Pakistan (GSP) on 725 acres.

In 2019, government decided to construct around 2,700 cemented pillars, with distance of 15 fee, and two-foot high walls between the pillars, on which the grills would be fixed along a 14-kilometer (km) long boundary. GSP had placed grills on around two kilometres stretch however a nearby housing society created obstacles in its construction.

The Additional Advocate General Punjab said the record would be obtained in the next four to five days. He took a stand that some documents were not provided by the Punjab government, which were necessary to ascertain the parameters of the botanical park. He said that the hearing should be adjourned till the documents are received, on which the court directed the AAG Punjab to provide the relevant documents.

The counsel for private land owners said the land of the Botanical Garden was 583 acres, but 725 acres had been seized.

The court summoned the CDA, ICT and Forest Department officials and adjourned the case for a week.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2020.