Stay order sought on LDA Plaza demolition

Petitioner requested that the LDA officials be placed on the exit control list.

LAHORE:

Justice Shahid Wahid of the Lahore High Court on Friday sought a reply from the provincial government in two weeks on a petition seeking orders to stop the government from demolishing three floors of the LDA Plaza, that were destroyed in a fire on May 9, till the forensic and criminal investigations and judicial and criminal inquiries into the incident are completed.

Advocate Tanveer Hussain Bhatti moved the petition submitting that the fire had engulfed the 7th, 8th and 9th floors killing 26 people due to the alleged negligence of the Fire Brigade and Rescue-1122.

He submitted that the incident had shown that the building had an ineffective fire detection system, poor fire-fighting equipment,  no emergency exits no evacuation plan. He submitted that the authorities had approved a tender to demolish the floors damaged in the fire, the work on which would commence shortly. He said the floors were a crime scene and demolishing them without a forensic and criminal investigation suggested mala fide intentions of the LDA director general.

He requested the court to order a joint forensic and criminal investigation team of experts in fire rescue, civil engineers, architects and emergency vehicles. He also requested an inquiry by high court judges to assess whether or not it was a case of arson.

He requested that the LDA officials be placed on the exit control list.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2013.