ISLAMABAD, July 25 A 14-member bench of the Supreme Court is expected to take up on Tuesday the environmental aspect of the proposed 'New Murree project' initiated by the previous government of the Punjab which if completed has the potential of polluting the waters of the Simly and Rawal dams on which residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad depend.

Suo motu notice was taken by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry after reading an article in Dawn on September 8, 2005 before his suspension by former President Pervez Musharraf on March 9, 2007 and then reinstatement. He was again fired on November 3, 2007 by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf while clamping emergency rule in the country.

In his article the writer had criticised the project for having potential to cause adverse effects on environment, threaten the Murree Hill Forests and pollute waters of the Simly and Rawal dams.

Though the taking of the suo motu notice had put the project in limbo, the land mafia, it is believed, had purchased scores of Shamlat lands on peanuts.

Attorney General Sardar Mohammad Latif Khan Khosa, Advocate General Punjab Mohammad Raza Farooq, Chairman Capital Develop-ment Authority Imtiaz Inayat Ellahi, Administrator Murree Development Authority, Chief Secretary Punjab and Secretary Ministry of Environment are required to appear before the bench.

Headed by the chief justice the bench will comprise Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakiru-llah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Husain Jillani, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raza Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja.

While taking notice on September 14, 2005, the chief justice had noted that the project was being pursued by the then PML-Q government of Pervez Ellahi despite its rejection by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Environment and the concern expressed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA), local government representatives and the irrigation department.