LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday expressed displeasure at non-submission of a reply by government authorities on a petition against construction of a shopping mall at Fortress Stadium, and warned them of seizing their right to defend in case of further delay.

Petitioner Nayyer Khan had assailed a lease agreement between Fortress Stadium Management and DUPAK developers for the construction of a five-storey shopping complex.

As Justice Ayesha A Malik resumed Wednesday’s hearing, counsel for respondents sought more time to file replies.

The petitioner’s counsel opposed the request and said the respondents were trying to gain time to collect remaining instalments of the sale price from buyers of shops in the plaza.

Justice Malik, however, allowed a last opportunity to the respondents with a warning of seizing their right if replies were not submitted by the next date of hearing.

Two respondents, the Lahore Cantonment Board (LCB) and a project marketing company, had filed their replies so far. Both endorsed the petitioner’s point of view and confirmed the A-1 class land was meant exclusively for military purposes and belonged to the federal government. They further confirmed the plan of the building was never approved by the LCB.

The petitioner had stated that the lease agreement showed Pakistan Army as the sole owner of the land but in fact the land belonged to the government that had given it to the Ministry of Defence in occupancy. He said the 114 Brigade Headquarters had been demolished to construct the shopping plaza.

The petitioner asked the court to annul the lease agreement being void and also a violation of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act.

ICA: The Young Doctors Association (YDA) has filed an intra court appeal before the Lahore High Court challenging order of a single bench wherein the Punjab government was allowed to demolish two-kanal and 11-marla area of Lady Willingdon Hospital to facilitate construction of a signal-free junction at Azadi Chowk.

The association filed the appeal through Advocate Azhar Siddique and asked the court to set aside the impugned order in the largest interest of public.

The petitioner-association pleaded that the hospital being a historical monument could not be demolished even partly. It said the hospital was serving people of not only Lahore but also of other cities.

The petitioner said demolition of the hospital was not only in violation of many articles of the Constitution but also against provisions of the Walled City Act 2012, Antiquities Act 1975, and the Punjab Special Premises Preservations 1985.

The appeal will be heard by a division bench next week.

adjourned: A sessions court on Wednesday adjourned hearing of a plea seeking attested copy of the FIR registered against Bhagat Singh in 1928 on murder charges of then SSP John P Saunders.

Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi, chairman of a Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation, filed the petition for compliance of the court’s previous orders issued to police.

Qureshi said the court had ordered the police to provide him an attested copy of the FIR but the order had not been obeyed so far. He said a petition for reopening of Singh’s case was pending before the Lahore High Court, and he was ordered by the court to present a copy of the FIR lodged against Singh.

The sessions court adjourned further hearing till May 2 and sought a report from the DSP legal.

DIRECTIVE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday directed the Sargodha police to produce a girl who allegedly married a Christian man after converting to Christianity. The court was hearing a bail petition of five men from the girl’s family on charges of committing theft in the house of Ansar, husband of the girl (Munazza).

Police lodged an FIR on July 25, 2013, against Sarfraz, Arshad Iqbal, Muhammad Idrees, Muhammad Saleem and Muhammad Nafees. The suspects were denied relief of pre-arrest bail from a sessions court, therefore, they approached LHC for bail.

During the course of hearing, petitioners’ counsel pointed out changing of religion by the girl. At this the court directed the police to produce the girl on May 5.