25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

LAHORE, June 24: The Lahore High Court ordered on Thursday that no commercial building would be built on The Mall downtown till the question of its cultural heritage was settled.

Ordering status quo on a writ petition filed by Advocate Syed Hassam Qadir Shah, the court issued notices to six managers of the city administration with a directive that they should submit their comments on commercial use of The Mall within a month.

The petitioner cited certain plans of razing to ground the Speaker's House and other adjacent buildings on The Mall to build a multi-storey hotel. He submitted that the plan envisaged leasing out 46 kanals to a private party for 99 years for raising a hotel. Another 50 kanals were also to be leased out for a similar purpose.

The petitioner submitted that building by-laws prepared by the Lahore Development Authority and the defunct metropolitan corporation in 1984 clearly laid down that no commercial buildings were to be constructed between the Charing Cross (Faisal Chowk) and Mianmir Bridge on either side of the 150-year old road which was part of the proud heritage of the city.

The petitioner also cited the master plan of the city and submitted that it provided for only institutional buildings on this stretch of The Mall. The master plan made such provisions in order to protect the city from environmental and ecological degradation.

The court issued notices to the Punjab government, the City District Government, the Data Ganj Bakhsh Town administration, the LDA, the Parks and Horticulture Authority and a five-star hotel adjacent to the Speaker's House with the directive to submit their reports within a month.