MULTAN, Feb 27: The Lahore High Court, Multan Bench, on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by the Cattle-pen owners Association against the district government accusing its officials of having committed contempt of court.

Muhammad Sadiq and others had filed the petition that City District Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar, DCO Iftikhar Babar and Livestock DO Dr Habibullah had committed contempt of court as they had failed to provide all civic facilities to Gawala Colony residents despite pledging the same earlier.

CDG lawyer Muhammad Aslam stated that the association members had signed an agreement on Nov 13, 2006, with the city district government that they would shift cattle-pens out of city limits till Feb 28.

He further stated that despite Gawala Colony being a private locality, the CDG had provided water and electricity facilities there.

He said cattle-pens were becoming a major cause for choking of sewerage system that was creating problems for the citizens, adding that the owners of cattle-pens had been prolonging the occupancy of the locality on various pretexts for the last six years.

He said CDG wanted to shift the cattle-pens out of the city in public interest to reduce the environmental contamination.

The Judge, Justice Jahangeer Arshad, agreed to the CDG lawyer’s arguments and rejected the petition.