Lahore: Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed of the Lahore High Court (LHC), on Monday, sought replies from the Punjab government, Lahore Development Authority (LDA) and others on a petition challenging construction of the Liberty Park and Ride Shopping Plaza in the Liberty Market and the consequent closure of public thoroughfares.
The judge directed the respondents to file their replies within two weeks and postponed the hearing till May 31. The judge was hearing a petition moved by Muhammad Azhar Sidduque, chairman of a law firm, and shop owners Muhammad Saleem Hafeez, Arshad Kareem Qureshi, M Zakariya Basheer Malik, Arif Mehmood, Syed Dilawar Shah and a hotel owner Mian Muhammad Haroon.
The LDA’s counsel, Khwaja Saeed Zafar, said that the parking plaza had been constructed at a cost of Rs 670 million and in addition to adding to the area’s beauty, it also had the capacity of providing parking facility to around 300 cars at a time.He said that the LDA had purchased 13 marla of the land from the United Christian Hospital against a payment of Rs 50 million. It was now the owner of the entire land on which the plaza was constructed.
He also said that traders of the area did not raise any objection to the plaza’s construction at the time when it was initiated. Separately, the petitioners’ counsel, Muhammad Azhar Siddique, submitted that the land was an open space owned by the PHA, which was illegally transferred to the LDA for the plaza’s construction. “New shops constructed in the plaza were affecting the petitioners’ dealings and business activities,” the counsel said.
He requested the court to declare that the open space still belongs to the PHA and that all subsequent transactions or transfers of it by any authority are without any legal jurisdiction and have to be treated as nullities in law. Earlier, Khwaja had submitted a reply to the petition on behalf of the LDA and the Punjab government. It said that the Liberty Parking Plaza had been constructed on non-utilised land and there was no park at all at the site as claimed by the petitioners.
