LAHORE: The Lahore High Court directed on Monday the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) to submit the record of trees felled in the city for the construction of different development projects, including Orange Line Metro Train, Gulberg signal-free corridor and the widening of Canal Road.

Pleading a public interest petition, advocate Sheraz Zaka argued before the court that the Punjab government had given an undertaking before the Supreme Court that 10 trees would be planted against each tree felled for any construction. However, he said that the government violated its undertaking.

The lawyer said fundamental rights of citizens were at stake and Lahore city had become one of the most polluted cities in the world due to unbridled cutting of trees by the government.

He pointed out that the provincial government in 2015 issued its environmental policy, which envisaged plantation of new trees but neither the policy nor the undertaking given before the apex court had been complied with.

During the hearing, Justice Ayesha Malik expressed displeasure that the PHA had been showing negligence towards the matter of public importance and had not bothered to file a reply for the last 10 months.

The judge directed the PHA’s counsel, present in the court, to submit a reply on behalf of the authority without fail by Oct 30.

Summon: The Lahore High Court on Monday summoned director general of Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on a petition seeking the implementation of a previous order regarding change of investigation in a case involving the petitioner.

Petitioner Ali Haider, sub-engineer at Wasa, argued through counsel Asim Ali Shah that a judge of the high court had on June 1, 2017 directed the ACE director general to decide an application for change of investigation after hearing point of view of the petitioner.

However, the counsel said the respondent had not complied with the order rather told the petitioner that it was a routine matter and that heaven would not fall if the order of the court was not implemented.

He argued that the conduct of the respondent director general amounted to contempt of court and he was liable to be punished under the relevant law. He requested the court to allow the petition and initiate contempt proceedings against Director-General Muzaffar Ali for not implementing the previous decision.

Justice Shahbaz Ali Rizvi heard the arguments and directed the respondent to appear in person on Oct 23 to explain his position in the case.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2017