MULTAN, Sept 27: The Lahore High Court Multan Bench on Friday issued contempt notices to the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SNGPL) general manager, town municipal officer of Bosan Town and civil defence officer for issuing a backdated no objection certificate to a proprietor for installing a CNG station on a negative road.

Muhammad Ihsan, a resident of Ward No 11, Kutchery Road, filed a petition against SNGPL general manager Ali Hasan Qureshi, Town Municipal Officer Hasan Askari and Col Masood Ahmad (retired), the proprietor of MM CNG Filling Station, against the installation of a CNG station on a road that connects MDA Chowk to Kutchery Chowk.

The road had been declared a negative road and installation of any CNG station or filling station on that road had been prohibited.

On March 17, Justice Muhammad Khalid Alvi accepted the petition for regular hearing and issued a stay order but, in the meantime, the policy was changed and all the departments concerned were authorised to issue no objection certificates.

After receiving the information of the policy, the petitioner asked the respondents not to issue no objection certificate for the installation of the CNG station in the area.

He also dispatched legal notices to the three respondents as well as Civil Defence Officer Chaudhry Mazhar Husain but the proprietor, who was an influential, approached the officials concerned and obtained a backdated no objection certificate. Justice Alvi accepted the contempt petition and issued notices to the respondents.