LAHORE: A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court against the Elevated Expressway project along with bus station and allied facilities from main Boulevard, Gulberg and Jail Road to Motorway (M2) recently announced by the Punjab government.

Residents of Nonarian Chowk (Gulshan-i-Ravi) filed the petition through Advocate Chaudhry Shoaib Saleem and made district collector Lahore, LDA DG, commissioner, senior member Board of Revenue Lahore and the province of Punjab through its chief secretary as respondents.

The petitioners submitted that out of the total 813 kanal land required for the Elevated Expressway, more than 670 kanal land was situated in Mauza Nonarian and they were the major victims of this project.

They said the District Price Assessment Committee assessed the value of land at a far less rate of Rs 31,250 per marla than the market value while it itself acknowledged in the same meeting that the average value of each marla of the land falling in Nonarian was Rs 64,644 and Rs 80,000 for the purpose of stamp duty.

The petitioners said the government wanted to deprive them of their residential properties by acquiring at throwaway prices ignoring all relevant laws and market value that they said was not less than the value of land situated at Mauza Sherakot – Rs 0.9 million per marla.

They asked the court to suspend the Price Committee’s findings and direct it to reassess the value of land keeping in view Section 23 of the Land Acquisition Act and other relevant facts.

Justice Shazada Mazhar would take up the petition on Monday.

A full bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah has already been hearing a number of petitions against the Elevated Expressway.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2014