Court seeks heritage board approval in Fort restaurant case 

LAHORE :The Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought findings of Heritage Conservation Board which it made before granting approval for setting up a restaurant at the Lahore Fort, a world heritage site.

Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah was hearing a petition against the construction. During the hearing, the CJ slewed a bunch of questions at counsel of Walled City of Authority Lahore (WCLA) regarding permission under the law for carrying out such activities on a heritage property.

Defending the construction work, WCLA’s counsel Khurram Chughtai said it was not a new construction but restoration of “Royal Kitchen”. He said the authority wanted to provide an opportunity to people to experience cuisine and food serving as it used to happen during Mughal era.

The chief justice observed that the court wanted to know the law relied upon by the government for carrying out such activity at the Lahore Fort. The authority’s counsel sought time to satisfy the court on this point. However, he said all the work in question was in fact conservation and adaptation process, which was allowed under the law. He said heritage conservation board had approved the construction.   Petitioner’s counsel Amir Saeed Rawn pointed out that the authority had been misleading the court on the matter.