ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court suspended on Thursday the short order of Lahore High Court (LHC), declaring the Rs1.5 billion signal-free Jail Road project illegal.

The decision was given by a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Saqib Nisar. Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Maqbool Baqir were the other judges on the bench.

According to Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Chief Engineer Israr Saeed, the Supreme Court asked the LHC to issue a detailed order in the case within five days and fixed May 20 as next date of hearing.

In a short order on April 17, the LHC had declared the corridor project, from Qurtaba Chowk to Liberty Roundabout, ‘illegal’ and stopped LDA from starting any such new development project. The petitioners had challenged the LDA’s authority to carry out such projects and questioned the legality of the corridor project itself.

The LDA chief engineer said that following the LHC’s orders, the LDA filed an appeal before the Supreme Court this month, challenging the high court verdict. Another LDA official said the project aimed to reduce traffic congestion on Jail Road — one of Lahore’s main arteries — which always remained choked due to extraordinary traffic load.

The LHC verdict held that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) director general had approved the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) without lawful authority. The court had said that the authorities had started work on the project in violation of Section 12 of the Punjab Environmental Protection Act, 1997, which states that an EIA report was a prerequisite for such public works.

It had further said that the LDA would only attend to its ongoing projects until local government elections, scheduled for September, were held and that the authority might continue day-to-day work such as repair and maintenance, “but shall not embark upon any new project which encroaches upon the powers of an elected local government system under the Punjab Local Government Act, 2013”.

LDA’s petition contended that the LHC order had been passed in derogation of the principle of statutory interpretation that requires that courts should make every effort to save a law rather than to strike it down.

It maintained that the LHC, in striking down unspecified provisions of the LDA Act, 1975, which were in its estimation, in conflict with the powers and functions assigned to the local government system, failed to keep in mind the distinction between the setting up of a local government system on the one hand, and the scope and extent of the administrative, financial and political powers that may be devolved by the province upon the local governments once the LG system is established.

It maintains that the constitutional mandate of an elected local government system is not diluted simply because certain powers earlier conferred upon the local governments are taken away or restricted by the provincial government.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2015

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