LAHORE, May 25: The Lahore High Court has directed petitioners against the lease of the Small Tollinton Park on the Gulberg’s Main Boulevard to file rejoinders against the reply submitted by the Lahore Development Authority and the Parks and Horticulture Authority.

The court issued the direction to Tariq Butt and Farida Rehman, residents of the area, who moved identical writ petitions challenging the lease of the park to a multinational food chain for the establishment of a restaurant.

The hearing of the petitions was adjourned with a date to be fixed by the LHC registrar office.

The petitioners challenged the LDA decision to give the park on lease in the name of Rizwan Wali who was authorised by the food chain contending that the property of the park, established in 1997 after the demolition of a post office, was still in the name of the Pakistan Post.

They also contended that the allotment of the park was made without getting permission from the district nazim and without securing a no-objection certificate from the Punjab Environment Protection Department.

Quashment of

FIR: Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif of the Lahore High Court on Thursday ordered the quashment of an FIR in a vani case on the ground that a case could not be registered with retrospective effect.

The court order said the Constitution did not envisage penal action in an offence taking place before the law was enacted. The FIR was got registered on March 29, 2006 under section 310 of the Pakistan Penal Code which was added to the Major Acts on Jan 11, 2005, to make the offence of ‘Badleh Suleh’ as cognisable. The actual offence (solemnising the nikah) had taken place on Sept 27, 2004.

The court dropped the charges against the elders of a tribe at Kaloorkot, Bhakkar district, in the proceeding of a petition through which Sultan Ahmad, the maternal grandfather of Shamim Akhtar, who was given in marriage as ‘Badle Suleh’, challenged the registration of the criminal case stating that no cognisance of an offence could be taken retrospectively.

According to the FIR, Mohammad Irfan had allegedly kidnapped Samreena of the opponent tribe two years ago. The tribal elders then decided that Irfan’s niece Shamim Akhtar should be given in the marriage of Mohammad Aamer, the brother of the abducted girl. The age of Shamim, according to the FIR, was around eight years when her marriage was solemnised.

But the petitioner, who is the father of Irfan and the maternal grandfather of the girl given in ‘Badle Suleh’, stated that her age was 14 years at the time of marriage.

The petitioner stated that his family had approved the marriage but did not perform ‘rukhsati’ because the girl was yet not able to run the household.