Punjab

Public welfare: High Court stays two urban development projects

Prioritise health and education, not urban development, the court observes.

Photo Abid Nawaz/rana Tanveer February 26, 2015

Construction on a Signal Free Corridor on Jail Road was underway when the court stayed it. PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/EXPRESS

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court on Thursday stopped the provincial government from proceeding on two development projects in Lahore. It declared emergency acquisition of land for one of these illegal and halted the second temporarily.

A full bench of the LHC declared the emergency requisition of land for the planned Elevated Expressway from Gulberg to Motorway (M-II) illegal after the government failed to establish the urgency.

The bench passed the order while hearing 129 petitions against the project and set aside the notification issued under the Land Acquisition Act 1894. The bench comprised Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza.

In the short order, Justice Shah observed that the court would issue guidelines on how the government should proceed on development projects.

The petitioners said that the government had declared the project urgent and was expeditiously acquiring and demolishing houses under Section 17 of the Land Acquisition Act for the Rs27 billion worth Expressway Project. They said the government had not explained why the project was being built on an urgent basis. The court was asked to set aside the project.

Some of the petitions, filed in public interest, pointed out that the government had not carried out a mandatory environment impact assessment. Other petitions objected to the amount of public funds allocated to the project. They said that the government was constructing urban infrastructure on an emergency basis whereas the money could have been spent on education and health projects instead.

The bench observed that education and health should be prioritised over urban development.

Counsel for the Lahore Development Authority replied that the Elevated Expressway was a public welfare project. He said it was a mandate of the Executive and that the LHC should not undertake a judicial review of the matter. He said those who had issues with the project could approach appropriate forums for legal reparation under the Punjab Land Acquisition Act and cases pertaining to compensation for land could be taken to civil courts.

The court asked the LDA to justify the urgency in acquiring land for the project, which the authority failed to do.

The bench had appointed three amici curiae for assistance on the matter. The amici curiae said that the project was being undertaken in violation of prescribed rules. They said it was necessary for the government to hold a public hearing before acquiring the land, which it had not done.

Signal Free Corridor

A single bench of the LHC comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah issued a stay order on a Signal-Free Corridor planned from Liberty Chowk to Mozang (Qurtaba Chowk). The court has asked the government for its reply on the petition by March 6.

Petitioner Fahad Malik said that the government was going to hew trees to construct the Signal Free Corridor. He said this would cause pollution.

He said the LDA had not obtained an NOC from the Environment Protection Department before starting construction.

He requested the court to declare the project illegal and requested a stay order against the project till the court reached a decision on the petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (4)

Haq | 9 years ago | Reply Elevated Expressway project was designed for the comfort of common citizens. Lahore High Court order to stop work on elevated expressway is against their interest.Further delays will not only increase the cost effects but also increase the plight of road users manifold.Bifurcation of road users on different routes is a common phenomenon in the world wide. Presently reaching Motorway or Thokar Niaz Beg or any locality in between takes colossal amount of time and resources. Interest of few property owners may have been affected but millions would have been benefited.Of course, the property owners must be compensated to the maximum but the project must not be scraped. As for as the plantation is concerned,extensive shady trees must be planted at all possible spaces.

N.Sid | 9 years ago | Reply In Singapore and many European cities, the government is encouraging people to use car pool, use public transport during rush hours to make the roads less clogged and also help the degrading environment. The PMLN government with all the hindsight and no foresight is looking to solve a problem after it lets the problem to turn into a huge catastrophe. Make a Master plan of the city, divide different towns with schools, colleges, shopping areas, offices at a short distance from the place of residence. Signal free corridor is a myth, in all the big cities of the world traffic signals controls the traffic, constructing a flyover in a congested area ruins the surrounding businesses. It can be seen in Karachi. High court judgement is right, earmark the fund for education and health instead of useless flyovers and underpasses. This is the real long term investment, and construction of roads should be left to city/local government. Lahore is fast loosing the big shady tree cover, which is the real beauty of Lahore, stop planting decorative plants and shrubs and plant big trees of local variety, they provide shade, provide oxygen, clean carbon contents, absorb noise pollution and what not. Decoration is destruction, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

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Common Pakistani | 9 years ago | Reply Let's remove the protocol of these judges and let them suffer in the traffic jams like common folk to realize the urgency.

Ali | 9 years ago | Reply Just wait for the Bullet train. Can we recoup some of the money wasted on laptops, sasti roti, yellow cabs and numerous other hair brained schemes.

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