Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed of the Supreme Court (SC) has remarked that the court will have to be completely satisfied with the orange line metro train (OLMT) project with regard to its impact on the city and its historical heritage before letting it off the hook.
“The project should not cause any harm to historical buildings and the court cannot simply assume that the project will not be harmful for historical heritage,” he said.
The SC’s five member bench, presided over by Justice Ijaz Afzal and comprising of Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, and Justice Alam Mian Khail took up the orange line metro train project case for hearing on Monday.
Khawaja Ahmad Hussain, counsel for petitioner I.A Rehman, took the plea that multiple historical sites would be affected by the construction of the OLMT and would not remain visible. “Invisibility is tantamount to affecting national heritage. The rules for the protection of national heritage sites have not been taken into consideration while planning the project,” he said.
Counsel said that development projects could not be executed within 200 feet on all sides of cultural heritage sites, adding that had the OMLT been a project of a private company, the cultural heritage DG would have never have issued a no objection certificate.
Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed remarked that the court also wanted to be satisfied regarding the impact of the OLMT and could not assume that the project would not harm historical buildings.
The court has also sought a report from two experts in this regard. If the experts declare the report by NESPAK correct, then the decision of the High Court will not be maintained, the bench said, adjourning the hearing till Tuesday.