Right of way: Supreme Court tells DHA to be a better neighbour
Dispute with two neighbouring housing schemes over the use of certain roads in Defence to be solved amicable, says SC.
LAHORE:
The Supreme Court has warned the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) that it would be in its interest to amicably resolve a dispute with two neighbouring housing schemes over the use of certain roads in Defence. Failure to do so, it said, could open a Pandora’s Box of trouble.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, repeatedly criticised the DHA for being elitist and a bully to its poorer neighbours.
The bench was hearing an appeal by the authority against a subordinate court order that the DHA must let the other housing schemes use the roads.
The respondents are Punjab Cooperative Housing Society (PCHS) and Builders and Developers (BD).
The PCHS says that a road 60-feet wide and 300 yards long leading from Ghazi Road to the Kamahan area, passing through Sectors AA and BB of DHA, had been blocked by the authority since 1989.
The BD says that the DHA does not allow the use of a road over 151 yards long leading to Fort Villas, owned by Seth Abid.
The counsel for the DHA argued that the roads were constructed by the authority with its own investment on its own land, and therefore were private personal.
He said the DHA could lawfully stop anyone it wished from using them.
Chief Justice Chaudhry responded: “This is a society and country of commoners which came into being as a result of the sacrifices of commoners. The privileged class cannot be allowed to trample all over their rights for the sake of its own convenience.
“The courts cannot allow the creation of no-go areas in the country under the guise of authorities and societies. If that were allowed, everyone would claim the sovereign right to their area, inviting serious chaos,” he said.
Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said there were about 400 residential societies in Lahore. They would all become sovereign states if they were given the right to stop others from using their roads. He noted that the DHAs in Karachi and Islamabad had no such disputes with neighbouring housing schemes.
Justice Ramday sarcastically asked the DHA counsel: “Have you arranged a helicopter service for residents of your neighbouring village, Charrar Pind, to reach their houses since they have no other way?”
Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said DHA residents used Cantonment and Lahore Development Authority roads, and their sewerage and water pipes and electricity poles were built on public land with public money.
“So how can the DHA deprive the public of passage through its area?”
Justice Ramday observed that the DHA had once closed a passage leading to the Lahore University of Management Sciences, forcing the school to close for three days. He said the matter before the court affected not just the appellant and the respondents, but housing societies all over the country. He said in the original plan of the area, there were not less than 15 villages in the DHA. If the original status of roads and passages were restored, many costly buildings would be abolished and maybe roads would be built through the DHA Golf Course, he said.
At the end of the day, the Supreme Court summoned the controller of the Board of Revenue for Tuesday (today) along with the original record of the area and the musawi, which shows the landholding plan, from 1949.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2010.
The Supreme Court has warned the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) that it would be in its interest to amicably resolve a dispute with two neighbouring housing schemes over the use of certain roads in Defence. Failure to do so, it said, could open a Pandora’s Box of trouble.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, repeatedly criticised the DHA for being elitist and a bully to its poorer neighbours.
The bench was hearing an appeal by the authority against a subordinate court order that the DHA must let the other housing schemes use the roads.
The respondents are Punjab Cooperative Housing Society (PCHS) and Builders and Developers (BD).
The PCHS says that a road 60-feet wide and 300 yards long leading from Ghazi Road to the Kamahan area, passing through Sectors AA and BB of DHA, had been blocked by the authority since 1989.
The BD says that the DHA does not allow the use of a road over 151 yards long leading to Fort Villas, owned by Seth Abid.
The counsel for the DHA argued that the roads were constructed by the authority with its own investment on its own land, and therefore were private personal.
He said the DHA could lawfully stop anyone it wished from using them.
Chief Justice Chaudhry responded: “This is a society and country of commoners which came into being as a result of the sacrifices of commoners. The privileged class cannot be allowed to trample all over their rights for the sake of its own convenience.
“The courts cannot allow the creation of no-go areas in the country under the guise of authorities and societies. If that were allowed, everyone would claim the sovereign right to their area, inviting serious chaos,” he said.
Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said there were about 400 residential societies in Lahore. They would all become sovereign states if they were given the right to stop others from using their roads. He noted that the DHAs in Karachi and Islamabad had no such disputes with neighbouring housing schemes.
Justice Ramday sarcastically asked the DHA counsel: “Have you arranged a helicopter service for residents of your neighbouring village, Charrar Pind, to reach their houses since they have no other way?”
Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said DHA residents used Cantonment and Lahore Development Authority roads, and their sewerage and water pipes and electricity poles were built on public land with public money.
“So how can the DHA deprive the public of passage through its area?”
Justice Ramday observed that the DHA had once closed a passage leading to the Lahore University of Management Sciences, forcing the school to close for three days. He said the matter before the court affected not just the appellant and the respondents, but housing societies all over the country. He said in the original plan of the area, there were not less than 15 villages in the DHA. If the original status of roads and passages were restored, many costly buildings would be abolished and maybe roads would be built through the DHA Golf Course, he said.
At the end of the day, the Supreme Court summoned the controller of the Board of Revenue for Tuesday (today) along with the original record of the area and the musawi, which shows the landholding plan, from 1949.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2010.