ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court bench hearing the Orange Line Metro Train case hinted on Monday that it might take up other work if the case at hand was not completed by the end of the week.

“We will try to finish [the case] by the end of this week, or we will request the chief justice to order the fixing of other routine matters before the bench,” observed Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, who heads the five-judge larger bench.

Three of the judges — Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan — were also members of the five-judge larger bench that heard the Panama Papers case.

The observation came when Advocate Khawaja Ahmed Hosain, representing human rights activist I.A. Rehman, sought more time on Tuesday to argue on certain technical aspects of the high court stay.

Construction within 200ft of protected buildings violates Antiquities Act 1975, court told

The bench is hearing identical petitions filed by the Punjab government, Lahore Development Authority, the Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA) and Nespak, challenging the Lahore High Court’s suspension of construction work on the Orange Line project within 200 feet of 11 heritage sites.

The order came on a petition filed by architect and civil society activist Kamil Khan Mumtaz.

The heritage sites include Shalimar Gardens, Gulabi Bagh Gateway, Buddhu ka Awa, Chauburji, Zebunnisa’s Tomb, Lakshmi Building, General Post Office, Aiwan-i-Auqaf, Supreme Court’s Lahore registry, St Andrews Presbyterian Church on Nabha Road and Baba Mauj Darya Bukhari’s shrine.

Being financed by China’s Exim Bank, the scope of civil works on the Orange Line project involves the construction of a 27.1km metro train corridor, including 25.4km of elevated U-shaped viaducts and 1.72km underground sections, 24 elevated and two underground stations, depots, stabling yards, etc.

At the outset of proceedings on Monday, human rights activist Asma Jahangir asked the court for more time to go through the voluminous reports and documents submitted by the PMTA.

Another respondent, Abdullah Malik, told the court that his counsel Azhar Siddique could not turn up because he was indisposed, adding that the court should allow him to change counsel if it did not want to adjourn the matter.

But the court was not inclined to grant any adjournment and observed that whosoever wanted to withdraw their case was more than welcome to do so.

“This is the Supreme Court, not the court of a civil judge in Sheikhupura,” observed Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.

Later, Khawaja Ahmed Hosain argued that the Orange Line track would impair the visibility of different heritage sites, adding that any visual impairment also amounted to damaging heritage.

He regretted that the designers or proponents of the project contravened the Antiquities Act 1975, saying that the project involved new constructions within 200 feet of at least five immovable antiquities protected by the law.

Nowhere in the world, not even in New Delhi or Istanbul, the counsel argued, did mass transit trains pass in front of cultural heritage sites.

Justice Saeed reiterated that the court needed to be convinced that the project would not damage or destroy any heritage site, adding that mere assumptions would not satisfy the court.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan observed that the court wanted to examine documents that said the heritage sites would not be damaged, adding that if Nespak’s reports were correct, the high court order would not hold the field.

The court then postponed the hearing till Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2017