LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday sought a reply from the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) on a petition challenging its regulations for permitting high-rise buildings.

Some residents of Johar Town filed the petition against sanction granted for an eight-floor apartment building on Canal Road without an NOC from the neighbours.

On behalf of the petitioners, Barrister Ahmad Qayyum argued that the LDA Building and Zoning Regulations 2019 violated the fundamental rights of the petitioners including the right to privacy of home.

He said height zones were required to be set up after public consultation and only thereafter sanctions could have been granted. He said without following the procedure under law, sanctions had been granted to various parties, which was illegal.

The counsel argued that the LDA acted with material irregularities in the exercise of jurisdiction while passing the sanction. He said the apartment building was in fact a commercial activity and could not be sanctioned on residential plots.

He asked the court to declare the impugned regulations illegal and to have been passed without lawful authority as the same violate the fundamental rights of the neighbours including their right to privacy and do not provide for NOCs/ permission from neighbours.

After hearing initial arguments of the counsel, Justice Shahid Karim issued a notice to the LDA director general for a reply in a fortnight.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2022