SHC seeks arguments on plea’s maintainability

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court sought on Thursday arguments from the petitioners on the maintainability of a plea pertaining to the closure of Burnes Road and surrounding streets for vehicles following the pedestrianisation of the former.

In a recent development, as part of the restoration and renovation of the two-way street, vehicles have been banned from entering the site after 7pm.

A resident living in the vicinity of Burnes Road filed the plea challenging the move in the SHC.

The counsel for the petitioner contended before the court that the closure of Burns Road for traffic in the evening had made the lives of the residents "miserable", and moved the court to direct the relevant authorities to keep the food street open for vehicles throughout the day.

"But similar food streets abound in Lahore, and here, it is where [at Burns Road] poor people can dine out. Should we put a stop to this?" the court remarked.

In turn, the counsel told the court that residents were not able to ride their motorcycles to their homes after 6pm.

"There are around eight to 10 eateries on the street. Why punish 50,000 residents [for their sake]?" he argued.

Also read: Govt draws SHC’s ire over failure to submit reply

At this, the court stated that if the residents were facing troubles due to the pedestrianisation of the street, all of them may submit affidavits, stating the same.

Then, seeking arguments on the maintainability of the plea from the counsel, the court adjourned the hearing.

Notice issued

Separately, the court issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a plea calling for a public in Malir's PS-88 constituency on February 16, when a by-poll would be held there.

The counsel for the petitioner maintained before the court that the ECP was obliged to declare February 16 a public holiday in the constituency.

He said many residents from the constituency had to go out of town for work daily, and if a public holiday was not declared on the day, a large fraction of voters would not be able to cast votes in the by-poll.

The counsel further informed the court that a letter in that regard had been written to the ECP, but no "satisfactory" reply was received.

At this, the court issued a notice to the ECP and sought replies from the respondents on February 15.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2021.