Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Friday issued notices for September 8 to the Lahore commissioner, district coordination officer (DCO) and others on a contempt of court petition filed by traders of the Kot Lakhpat Fruit and Vegetable Market for bulldozing their property, shops and businesses during a massive operation to vacate market land in violation of restraining orders of the LHC.
The petitions were filed by traders Abdul Ghafoor and Muhammad Asif, through their counsel Mobeen Qazi, challenging the grand operation conducted on July 11 to demolish their shops. They said that the operation was conducted on directions of Lahore Commissioner Jawad Rafique Malik and District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ahad Cheema ignoring LHC’s restraining orders on three petitions pending in court against shifting of the market to a new place in Kaacha village near Hadiara Drain.
The petitioners said that the operation caused heavy losses to traders because the Gulberg Town TMO and others demolished shops and buildings without letting them take out their moveable property, including fruits and vegetables stocked in godowns. The petitioners said that Justice Syed Manzoor Ali Shah had issued a restraining order on March 28 on the matter and the stay order was extended until April 7 and May 25 during proceedings on their petitions challenging shifting of the market from its present location.
They said that district authorities on July 11, disobeying LHC orders, launched a massive operation in the fruit market using bulldozers, cranes and tractors and smashed their shops full of fruits and vegetables crates caring least for the business and property loss of traders. The petitioners said that a notification was issued on February 2 under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 by the Punjab government, through offices of the Lahore commissioner and DCO, to vacate land of the fruit and vegetable market unlawfully without consulting traders who were real stakeholders in the matter.
They said that the said notification was issued for shifting the fruit and vegetable market from its present location from Kot Lakhat near Model Town to a newly-established market in Kaacha village near Hadiara Drain, also on Ferozepur Road but at a far-off venue was not suitable for the vegetable and fruit market.
The traders said that they opposed the step and challenged the notification in the LHC and got a stay order but the district authorities bothered least about the stay order and came with heavy machinery to do what they wanted to do by using full force. Traders resisted the operation and were subjected to severe torture by police.
