LHC halts construction in housing societies built on greenbelt

The Lahore High Court (LHC) halted construction in housing societies built on green belts in Lahore on Thursday.

A petition was filed by a citizen named Mubbashir Almas against the construction of 557 housing societies on green land areas and greenbelts. A single bench comprising of Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan conducted the hearing for this petition.

The court instructed the Director General and Vice Chairman of the Lahore Development Authority's (LDA) to appear before the court with relevant records on this issue and directed it to keep the amnesty scheme on hold.

According to the LDA counsel, 241 societies have violated this order about construction on the greenbelt. Moreover, the court was also informed that notices have been issued to housing societies which have constructed on green land areas.

As a result, these societies are not provided with power, water and gas connections and the sale of land in these societies has also been banned.

According to the Chief Justice LDA's inefficiency has exacerbated the issue and now millions of people live in housing societies developed over green land areas.