— Directs LDA to restore park encroached by road within 10 days
— Dar says LDA DG levelled false allegations against him
LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Thursday heading a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) at Lahore registry gave the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) a 10-day deadline to restore a park uprooted to facilitate a road near the house of former finance minister Ishaq Dar and admonished LDA Director General (DG) Zahid Akhtar Zaman over the incident.
Having taken a suo motu notice of the road a day before, CJP questioned LDA DG over the authority which allowed LDA to build the road over the park area.The LDA had taken over 1 Kanal and 6 marlas of the park to build the road.
“Ishaq Dar had requested to make the road outside his house wider for parking,” replied DG Zaman. The CJP then asked if the former finance minister had written an official request to the authority, to which the DG replied, “Dar had directed me to make the road over the phone.”
The response irked Chief Justice Nisar, who remarked that the official should also be investigated as per the law of National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The DG LDA offered an unconditional apology ─ which was dismissed by Justice Nisar ─ and requested the court not to forward the case to NAB.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that if the bench did not send the case to NAB, it would “set a bad example”. However, he told the DG to restore the park first and let the court consider the matter.
When LDA DG informed the court that the construction of the new road cost Rs15 million, CJP Nisar remarked, “You have to pay the entire cost from your own pocket”.
The CJP then ordered DG Zaman to detail how the park was built in a written statement and submit it to the court. “Bring all the records as well as your oath”, the CJP ordered.
The court also issued notices to Dar and the LDA during Thursday’s hearing.
On Wednesday, Chief Justice Nisar had taken the suo motu notice of a portion of a park being uprooted to build a road leading to Ishaq Dar’s residence and notices were issued to LDA DG, Lahore’s deputy commissioner and the Punjab government.
Dar rejects LDA DG’s allegations:
On the other hand, Ishaq Dar rejected the allegations that he phoned the LDA DG over the matter and said that he never interfered. He said that the DG levelled false allegations against him as he had told the official to ask the residents and not him.
“LDA DG said he wanted to widen the road in front of my house,” Dar said in an interview to a private television channel.
“He asked for my permission to widen road and I said I had no objections but suggested that he ask other residents,” he added.
“Zaman’s statement about me talking to him over the phone is incorrect,” Dar said and added that the court should collect all the facts.
The senator denied having issued any verbal orders to the incumbent LDA DG.
He further said that he was asked to spend funds on the beautification of the park, adding that if he wanted to upgrade the park, he could have allocated funds for it.
