FAISALABAD, Aug 13: Traffic police and district administration closed on Wednesday over two dozen wagon and bus stands in Abdullahpur which were declared illegal by the Lahore High Court.

Special teams comprising traffic police, Regional Transport Authority and the district administration personnel forced transporters to close the stands set up along the Rakh Branch Canal and other parts of the city.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry, on a writ petition filed by one Akram, had declared all the wagon and bus stands set up by a number of transporters having license of halting points along Rakh Branch Canal and other city areas as illegal and ordered the District Transport Authority, the DCO and the SSP to take necessary steps for closing them.

The Faisalabad DCO asked the Faisalabad DPO and traffic SP to take necessary measures for the implementation of LHC orders. The traffic police moved efficiently and closed over two dozen wagons stands on Saturday night. But, a few hours later, the owners of illegal stands approached the district bosses and succeeded in reopening them.

According to officials concerned, the Lahore High Court had already passed an order against the operation of Abdullahpur wagon stands which had been challenged in the Supreme Court and the court had suspended operation of the LHC order. In this backdrop, the Faisalabad RTA sought the legal opinion from the district attorney for implementing the recent decision of the LHC chief justice for closing the wagon stands operating in the city on the basis of licenses of halting points. The attorney asked the authorities concerned to close down all the wagon stands set up on the licenses of halting points.