The Lahore High Court Chief Justice, Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry here Monday dismissed a petition challenging construction of a flyover bridge at Kalma Chowk, Ferozepur Road. Dismissing the petition, he asked the counsel, "As to why you are opposing the flyover. Do you want people to stick on roads for hours?" The CJ also observed that the court does not stop a project, which gives benefits to the majority of people.
The petition was filed by President Lahore Conservation Society, Kamil Khan Mumtaz, WWF-Pakistan, through its Director General, Ali Habib and Chairperson Concerned Citizens of Pakistan Ms Justice Nasira Iqbal (Retd). Their counsel said the summary of the project revealed that the Communication and Work Department requested an allocation of rupees 1.2 billion for the project during 2010-11. It engaged National Engineering Services Pakistan limited (Nespak) to carry out the design of the project and assigned execution of the project to national logistics cell while bypassing the requirements of the procurement rules.
He argued that the sanction of the project, engagement of Nespak and NLC, and commencement of work at the project violated the petitioners' and public's fundamental right to life and have clean environment. It also violated provisions of Pakistan Environment Protection Act 1997 and Procurement Rules. He also pointed out that the construction of the project has resulted in the loss of dozens of plants and trees, thus devastating bio-diversity of the area. The counsel, therefore, prayed to the court to declare sanction of the project illegal and in violation of the provisions of Pakistan Environment Protection Act, 1997 and Punjab Procurement Rules, 2007.