LHC terms Signal Free Corridor project illegal

The LDA was ordered by the court to remove the machinery which was brought on to the site


Rana Tanveer April 17, 2015
The LDA was ordered by the court to remove the machinery which was brought on to the site. STOCK IMAGE

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday declared the Rs1.5 billion Signal Free Corridor project from Qartaba Chowk to Liberty Market Chowk as illegal.

The bench announced the short order which it had previously reserved on Thursday after all the arguments were concluded.

It was declared that the project was in violation of section 140(A) of the Punjab Local Government Act. Further, it was said that several sections of the Lahore Development Authority Act (LDA) are also against the constitution which gave authority to the LDA for such projects.

The LDA was ordered by the court to remove the machinery which was brought on to the site where work on the project had commenced.

The bench further warned that action against LDA officials would be taken in case they continued with the project.

The LDA had planned for the project to have three under passes and seven U-turns on this 7.5 kilometer long project.

Petitioners including I.A Rehman, Kamil Khan Mumtaz, Imrana Tiwana, Faryal Ali Gohar and other notable personalities had challenged the project terming it against the welfare of the people.

They further said it would not facilitate the locals and challenged the LDA authorities in carrying out such development projects in absence of the local bodies.

They attributed authority to carry out such projects to the local governments and said that the LDA was using its powers to carry out such projects which was illegal and unconstitutional.

It was concluded that the project was carried out without adopting the due process of law.

COMMENTS (2)

hashim | 9 years ago | Reply Alhamdulilah, We have no dearth of upright judges in our high court who are ready to nullify foolish government decisions which government makes for their own selfish personal needs and wrongly terms it welfare project for masses. The punjab government was thinking perhaps that it was above law. Salute to the brave people who went to high court against violation of law and faught our battle.
rameez | 9 years ago | Reply Courts seem jealous of the effectiveness and quickness of Punjab govt to resolve infrastructure specially in Lahore and in general the whole province. If elections are delayed for no matter watever reason roads wont be built, drainage wont be repaired and renewed thats what u want right ? Shame on courts
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