SC for using IT to mark botanical garden limits

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to use information technology like geo-tagging to determine the parameters of private land around the Bani Gala Botanical Garden.

A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard the suo-moto notice case regarding delimitation of Bani Gala Botanical Garden.

During proceedings, the court was informed that 583 acres of land had been allotted for the botanical garden. However, the representative of the owners of private properties said that CDA seized the land of his clients on pretext that it was part of the botanical garden.

The lawyer of the landowners also presented documents supporting the claims of his clients over the land.

The court asked the CDA to determine boundaries of private lands around the botanical gardens. The bench directed CDA to copy geographical images and maps from Google and submit a report. The court also directed CDA to submit a report with details of new and old maps of the Botanical Garden. Later, hearing of the case was adjourned for one month.

The geological survey of Pakistan (GSP) had demarcated 725 acres of land in Bani Gala for construction of a botanical garden. This had caused a conflict with the landowners and also the Punjab government that claimed the area to be part of its jurisdiction.

However, the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) hired a contractor to construct around 2,700 cemented pillars, with distance of 15 feet along a 14-kilometer long boundary.

The government allocated up to Rs900 million for the construction of a wall and fences along the boundary of the garden’s land in the development budget for the fiscal year 2018-19.

The nearby housing societies obstructed the further construction of the boundary claiming right over the land. The issue of 583 or 725 acres is running in the Supreme Court for the past couple of years.

Reviewing the CDA’s report on the matter, the apex court’s bench had remarked that land on which the botanical garden was to be built was leased to the authority by the Punjab government in 1966. The lease for this land expired in 2012 and the land should have been returned to the provincial government.

The Punjab Additional Advocate General (AAG) Qasim Chuhan had said that though the lease expired eight years ago, the CDA has yet to pay the provincial government.

He added that the Punjab forest department had also sent a summary to the provincial chief minister about the return of the land. Moreover, the private landowners had told the court that CDA had seized 142 extra acres while demarcating the botanical garden that was supposed to be on 583 acres instead of 725 acres.

Subsequently, the top court sought a report from the Board of Revenue to identify who owns the land.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2020.