Bahria Town finally won five-month-long court battle as the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday allowed it to resume construction work on a flyover and two underpasses near Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine in Clifton area.
In April, the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) had gone to the court against Clifton traffic project launched by a private property developer for not obtaining mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report on the projects.
On April 29, the court while allowing DHA’s application had ruled that all construction in relation to the project was restrained and stopped immediately. It had also directed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), proponent of the project, to obtain EIA report from the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) on the project.
Following the court order, the KMC obtained the EIA report from the Sepa that accorded its approval to the project. However, the DHA again approached the court challenging Sepa’s EIA report while arguing that the Sepa issued the EIA report without complying with provisions of Environment Protection Act 1997 and other related environment laws.
While granting DHA’s plea, the court granted stay order on the execution of EIA report on August 15. The stay order remained in the field till October 17 when SHC’s division bench dismissed its petition.
Later, the counsel on behalf of Bahria Town filed an application pleading to the court to allow it to resume construction work on the project as the Sepa had given an EIA report on the project while approving it.
He submitted that since the Sepa had accorded its approval to the project on August 5, the builder be allowed to start work on the project. He told the judge that SHC’s division bench had also dismissed the DHA’s petition through which it challenged the Sepa’s EIA report.
During hearing on Wednesday, Justice Munib Akhtar, who headed a single bench, observed he had held that the EIA was necessary in respect of the subject project but at that time the same was not obtained and he had granted interim relief to the plaintiff (DHA). Thereafter, he added, it appeared that the proponent of the project KMC did apply for the EIA which was granted by the Sepa.
Therefore, the court recalled and vacated its stay order against the project. It also disposed of the application.
