The restoration of the LHC building’s eastern wing will start in the coming week. PHOTO: lhc.gov.pk
The restoration of the LHC building’s eastern wing will start in the coming week. Its estimated cost is Rs44.756 million. It will be completed as early as possible, said LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Saturday.
In 2004, the LHC administration had decided to restore the building’s western wing, but instead of preserving its original architecture, the building was demolished. Several NGOs and the National College of Arts and Punjab University students had then protested the demolition. Several lawyers led by the then Lahore High Court Bar Association president Ahmed Awais had joined the protest. Awais also challenged the demolition in the Supreme Court. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court had then ordered the then LHC chief justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry to constitute a committee and ensure that the building was reconstructed with the original features, design and facade.
However, the features could not be preserved. Instead of a single-storey building a two-storey building was built. The building’s carved arches and hand-made grills were replaced with marble arches and cement grills that clashed with the design of the northern wing.
The LHC building, a relic of the colonial era, was listed as a protected building under a notification on March 21, 1985. Deviation from its original design violated Section-5 of the Punjab Special Premises (Preservation) Ordinance 1985.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, after a briefing from architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz on Saturday, constituted a preservation committee comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah (as chairman), Justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq and Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan to restore the LHC building in its original form. He said the building was in need of special care as some of its portions had been damaged.
ICS
On Monday, the LHC chief justice ordered the reinstatement of Punjab University Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) director Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz, suspending the vice-chancellor’s order in this regard. Naz had been suspended on March 4 and then again on March 6 on charges of sexual harassment and misconduct.
The chief justice held that the VC did not have the authority to suspend Naz. That power rested with the syndicate which had not delegated it to the VC.
Lawyers’ licences
Last week, the Punjab Bar Council cancelled practice licences of 47 lawyers for misconduct and violations of the code of conduct.
The council realises that the bar can do without some of its members who bring it a bad name.
Interim bail extended
The LHC on Friday extended the interim bail of former minister for overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar, till July 5.
Sarwar faces charges of obtaining a degree on the basis of a fake intermediate certificate. The judge has directed the technical board chairman to present record of the former minister’s certificates at the next hearing.
Prohibition of destruction etc of Special Premises
No alteration in or renovation, demolition or re-erection of such portion of a Special Premises as is visible from outside, or any part of such portion, shall be effected without the prior permission in writing of the Government or a Committee
Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2013.
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