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Thursday March 28, 2024

LHC full bench to hear petition against roadblocks

By our correspondents
January 24, 2018

LAHORE:A Lahore High Court full bench would hear a petition challenging blockade of roads and thoroughfares in the city, including outside the Jati Umra residence of the Sharif family, their family house in Model Town and office of the inspector general of police.

Justice Shahid Karim had initially took up the petition filed by a citizen and referred the matter to a full bench already seized with a case against protests on The Mall, a prohibited area. Justice Aminuddin Khan is heading the full bench with Justice Shahid Jamil Khan and Justice Shahid Karim. The bench is set to resume hearing on Jan 31.

The petitioner through his counsel said that public money had been extravagantly misused on Jati Umra and on the members of Sharif family. The petitioner said a security wall was constructed around the sprawling home of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at an initial cost of about Rs250 million. He alleged that over Rs75 million had been wasted on the security of the Sharif family during the last few years.

He claimed that the cost of security equipment installed at Jati Umra residence of Sharifs was around Rs806 million while about Rs12.5 million had been wasted on purchase of jammers. He stated that there were 2,750 security staff deployed for the security of Jati Umra and Rs40 million had been spent on the security arrangements.

The petitioner contended that roads had also been blocked outside Jati Umra and Model Town residences of the Sharif family by erecting barricades, causing problems to the citizens. He pleaded that curtailment of movement was violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution.

He argued that any executive order which had been passed by the prime minister, chief minister or chief secretary or any other minister was illegal as much as such it had not been passed by the cabinet.

The petitioner argued that exercise of power for the purpose of blocking roads outside Jati Umra, Model Town and other camp offices of the chief minister was in violation of Section 24-A of the General Clauses Act and judgments passed by the superior courts. He prayed to the court to order the chief secretary to remove illegal barriers and blockages erected in front of former prime minister’s house in Jati Umra, Raiwind, IGP office and chief minster's camp office at Model Town and other camp offices of the chief minister in Punjab.

dismissed: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday dismissed for being non-maintainable a petition challenging construction of Bab-i-Pakistan with a new design. Justice Shahid Karim passed the order on a petition moved by architect Amjad Mukhtar. The petitioner said that Bab-i-Pakistan’s construction was being made under the new design. "The project was worth over Rs 1 billion but the government stopped its construction. The project was redesigned and over Rs 4 billion was allocated for it. The big amount was a burden on the national exchequer," he said.