QUETTA, Nov 3: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court has directed the provincial government to investigate and submit a comprehensive report regarding conversion of a blacktop road into commercial plots at the Hazarganji bus stand by the Quetta Development Authority.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmad, issued notices to the director general of the QDA and the provincial government through the chief secretary, asking them to file a report in four weeks.

The notices were issued on a petition filed by Hazrat Ali Khan, challenging the allotment of the plots. The petitioner submitted that officials of the QDA on mala fide intentions had converted the site into commercial plots and allotted it to favourite people.

The court directed that the report must indicate how many plots were created at the site and on whose orders the conversion took place. The report should include the name and designation of the authority which, under the QDA ordinance 1978 or rules and regulations, was empowered to do so. Names and position of applicants for plots should be also be mentioned in the report.

The court also ordered the QDA director general not to allow construction on plots till the disposal of the petition.

It asked senior advocate Hadi Shakeel Ahmad to appear and assist the court as amicus curiae.

WishNath Kohli advocate represented the petitioner and the hearing was adjourned till a date in December.