The appointment of Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Director General Dr Javed Iqbal was challenged during the hearing of Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) case on Tuesday.
Petitioner of civil society Azhar Siddique, while challenging the appointment said that Dr Javed Iqbal was appointed as DG EPA against the merit as he belonged to Public Health Engineering and HUD.
The petitioner told the divisional bench headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh that how DG EPA could perform duty as per the law when his appointment was illegal. He said that only a person from PMS/APUG of grade 20 or a grade 19 official from the same department could be eligible for appointment as DG EPA.
He said that appointment of Iqbal was illegal and in order to save his job he was showing no interest in compliance of EIA report of OMT project.
Azhar further argued that Punjab government lied regarding the facts of the project as, according to him, entire Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report and other details about the project submitted by the EPA Punjab were incorrect.
He stated that the Punjab chief minister was also kept in dark by the Environment Protection Department (EPD) regarding the appointment of DG EPA Punjab, and that he did not have enough expertise required for the OMT project.
After hearing arguments of petitioners’ lawyer, the court adjourned further hearing till Wednesday (today).
