LAHORE – A constitutional petition has been filed before the Lahore High Court to question the construction of Liberty Park and Ride Plaza, on the premise that the land was originally owned by Parks and Horticulture of Authority (PHA) for the development of a public park, which could not be handed over to the Lahore Development of Authority (LDA) for the purpose of the said plaza.
The petition has been filed by the Linen Shop and five other owners of shops/establishments/offices in Al-Fatah and HKB Streets, Commercial Zone, Liberty, through advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, grieving that they have been directly affected by the plaza. The petitioners contended that transfer of open space to LDA for the purpose of constructing the said plaza was illegal and in violation of the fundamental rights promised in the constitution.
They prayed to the court to declare that the said open space was still in the ownership and control of PHA and that all subsequent transactions or transfers of it by any authority was without any legal jurisdiction and have to be treated as nullity in law. They demanded the court to declare that PHA and LDA had no jurisdiction and authority to go into business, other than those prescribed in the acts, regulations and rules, thus the court may cancel all the notifications issued by PHA and the Punjab government purporting to transfer the above space to LDA.
The petitioners, on the touchstone of law, also sought cancellation of the notification creating PHA under the Punjab Development of Cities Act, 1976 and that parking and other allied facilities may be restored to the petitioners in its original position, as it was before the inauguration of the plaza.
