PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has ordered an immediate halt to construction work in a designated parking area converted by the Peshawar Development Authority into a commercial plot near a major government hospital.
A bench consisting of Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Farah Jamshed declared that until the next hearing, no work should be carried out on the disputed plot and the status quo should be maintained.
It sought comments from the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) within a fortnight about a petition filed by resident Sheraz Khan, who owns a commercial plot adjacent to the disputed piece of land, against the conversion of a designated car parking meant for general public, especially visitors to the Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, into a commercial plot.
An earlier petition on the matter was accepted by the high court on Sept 25, 2025.
However, the Federal Constitutional Court set aside that judgement and remanded the matter back to the high court. In light of the FCC’s verdict, the petitioner filed the instant amended petition.
The petitioner requested the court to declare illegal and unlawful the conversion and abolition of the designated parking area into commercial Plot No. J, by extending its original size from 2.11 kanals to 2.39 kanals for commercial use.
He sought declaration of the court that the advertisement, a subsequent illegal corrigendum and the allotment of Plot No. J, which included the public parking area, was contrary to the master plan, as the said parking area had been added to a commercial plot without the approval of the PDA’s Board without any authority by the PDA director general in favour of a construction firm.
The petitioner also prayed the court to declare void the drawings placed on record, whereby the size of Plot No. J had illegally been increased from 2.11 kanals to 2.39 kanals and the designated car parking area had been abolished, as the same was beyond the decision of a board meeting held on April 24, 2026.
He insisted that the decision was in violation of the master plan, the PDA Act 2017 and the earlier judgement of the high court, therefore of no legal effect.
The petitioner requested the court to declare that even if the board had subsequently rectified or regularised the impugned re-planning, the same couldn’t validate the auction retrospectively as the auction of Plot No. J was illegal at the time it was conducted in April 2025.
He said that the said auction and all subsequent proceedings were liable to be set aside and a fresh auction of the plot should be conducted in accordance with law and the approved master plan.
The petitioner’s counsel, Aamir Javed, said that as per the contents of his client’s possession certificate and approved master Plan of Hayatabad Township, the designated 40-feet car parking area was unambiguously reflected.
He contended that the allocated parking area was originally allocated and earmarked in the master plan as a designated public parking facility, specifically intended to cater to the parking needs of the general public visiting HMC and the adjoining commercial establishments.
The lawyer said that upon promulgation of the PDA Act, 2017, which provided a special and statutory procedure for periodical re-planning, the PDA board again approved the re-planning of that commercial area opposite HMC in its meeting on Aug 4, 2021, whereby various other commercial plots including Plot J measuring 2.11 kanals were created opposite HMC.
Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2026
