LAHORE: LHC notice to Punjab govt - Cement units in Kahoon
By Our Correspondent
LAHORE, Dec 30: The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to the Punjab government seeking explanation for allowing to set up six cement plants at the Kahoon Valley in the Salt Range.
The court also served notices for Jan 14 on two companies permitted by the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA) to establish the factories and excavate limestone and clay for production of cement.
The notices were served on writ petitions filed by Pakistan Environmental Law Association vice-chairman Advocate Mansoor Ali Shah and 23 residents of Chakwal district against the setting up of cement units.
The petitioners contended that the cement units would damage environment, flora and fauna and ecology of the area and cause serious health hazards for hundreds and thousands of residents.
They submitted that the no-objection certificate issued by the PEPA and the notification issued by the Punjab Industries Department on September 9, 2002, contravened the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act.
The petitioners contended that the PEPA had also violated the legal provision which were ordained in the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency Regulations, 2000.
The petition also challenged the cement projects on the ground that district environment officers of Rawalpindi, Gujrat and Lahore had, through their reports, called the projects as dangerous for the ecology and the health of the people of the area.
The petition traced the history of the splendid Kahoon Valley in the Salt Range which it said existed before the pre-historic period and had a rich cultural value in the shape of Kallar Kahar lake, temples including Katas and Malot, huge reserves of wood and rock fossils in the Ban Amir Khatoon area and several forests and game reserves. The whole area was a natural habitat of migratory and local birds and beautiful flora and fauna.
STAY ORDER: A division bench of the Lahore High Court has sought a report from the Interior Ministry and the Punjab Home department on the question of staying a murder convict's execution by the president for one month.
The writ petition, moved by Malik Muhammad Nawaz through advocate Amanat Ali Bokhari, will now come up for hearing before the division bench comprising Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Bhatti after the winter vacations.
The petitioner contended that Fazlur Rehman of Badami Bagh, convicted of the murder of his brother Muhammad Arif in January 1984, was to be executed on Dec 8 when the court was informed by deputy attorney-general Dr Danishwar Malik a day earlier that the president had stayed the execution for a possible compromise between the parties after dismissing his clemency appeal earlier.
The petitioner submitted that the president was not empowered to entertain a second mercy appeal after he had dismissed a similar appeal before as such the presidency be directed not to pass order that were in conflict with the constitutional and legal provisions.
