ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition of the milkmen of Rawalpindi, clearing the last hurdle in the way of Rawalpindi administration to shift over 100,000 cattle from the city.

The three-judge bench, headed by Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, after hearing counsel for the petitioner Ibadur Rehman Lodhi and Maqbool Ellahi Malik, the Punjab advocate-general, dismissed the petition for leave to appeal.

The apex court held that the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench had disposed of the petition of the milkmen through a consent order in the light of the agreement executed between the parties and such order could not be assailed in the Supreme Court under its appellate jurisdiction.

Justice Chaudhry observed that a categorical assurance had been given on behalf of the respondents that the agreements reached between the petitioners and the administration, as well as commitment made before the court shall be enforced in letter and spirit.

The Punjab AG assured the court that commitments made with the petitioners in the Lahore High Court, regarding construction of half a kilometre road, school and veterinary dispensary would be fulfilled.

He stated that the petitioners themselves had not fulfilled the requirements agreed under the accord.

Ibadur Rehman Lodhi, the counsel for the petitioners, apprehended that the commitment incorporated in the agreement and the judicial order passed subsequently would not be fulfilled because so far no constructive step had been taken to achieve the objective.

In March 2000 Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) had launched a campaign for evacuating 100,000 cattle from the city. The decision was challenged in the Lahore High Court, which on July 3, 2000 passed an order directing the local administration not to forcibly evacuate the cattle-pens for one month.

The cattle-pen owners were given only one month time after their petition was disposed of but the Rawalpindi administration took no action against them after they had filed appeal in the Supreme Court. The apex court, however, had not passed any order prohibiting the administration from taking any action against them.