ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday expressed displeasure over the ‘conditional approval’ granted by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for the Bhara Kahu bypass project.

IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb observed that there was no provision in the environmental laws regarding “conditional approval” for any project.

During the hearing, the judge asked the Pak-EPA director general to appear before the court to explain his position; however, the written order of the court did not mention the same.

Justice Aurangzeb was hearing the petition filed by five faculty members of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) against the construction of the bypass within the university’s premises.

Pak-EPA official says Rs1 million penalty imposed on CDA for flouting environmental laws

Additional Attorney General Munawar Iqbal Duggal apprised the bench that a meeting took place between the representatives of the CDA and the varsity administration on Nov 15, 2022.

He added there was another meeting scheduled to take place this week wherein the petitioners would also be invited.

For this purpose, he sought an adjournment till Friday (Nov 25).

Pak-EPA Assistant Director Mohammad Ramzan appeared before the court and also produced a report about the proceeding initiated by Pak-EPA for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project.

It stated that the “CDA has submitted the reply on Nov 20, 2022, against comments/reviews submitted by the expert committee and during the public hearing on Nov 18, 2022”.

Mr Ramzan said the response was found acceptable due to the “firm commitment of CDA to follow the directions and final decisions” for EIA and added that conditional approval will be issued which is conditional to the submission of the administrative penalty already imposed under the Rules 2015.

Justice Aurangzeb observed: “I have gone through Regulation 13 of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency Review of Initial Environmental Examination and Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2000 and have noticed that there is no concept of “conditional approval”.

The said regulation provides that an EIA shall be subject to the condition that the project shall be designed and constructed strictly in accordance with the IEE [initial environmental examination] or, as the case may be, EIA, unless any variation thereto has been specified in the approval by the federal agency”.

The court noted that an approval taking into consideration the concerns raised at the public hearing has to-date not been issued.

Mr Ramzan submitted that further steps regarding EIA shall take place after the penalty of Rs1 million – imposed on the civic agency – is deposited by the CDA.

Hafiz Arfat Ahmed, counsel for the CDA, told the court that the order of PEPA imposing an Rs1m penalty has not been communicated to the CDA as of yet.

Petitioners’ counsel Kashif Ali Malik informed the court that the civic agency did not stop the construction work despite the restraining orders by this court and also produced “video footage of activities on the site” to substantiate his claim.

The court adjourned the hearing till Nov 25.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sept 30 laid the foundation stone of the Bhara Kahu bypass and directed the National Logistics Cell (NLC) to complete the project in three months.

The 5-km-long road (including a 1km flyover) will start from Murree Road near Quaid-i-Azam University stop and culminate on Murree Road near the Jugi bus stop adjacent to Punjab Cash and Carry from where a flyover will begin which will end outside Bhara Kahu bazaar towards Murree.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2022