LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday warned the Fortress Stadium Management (FSM) and a private company of halting all activities (construction and business, etc) at Fortress Square Plaza if they again failed to submit a reply to a petition questioning construction of the mall on an A-I category land.

As the proceedings started, the petitioner’s counsel pointed out that the FSM and DUPAK Developers, marketing contractor, did not file their replies despite repeated directions by the court.

The counsel argued that the respondents were gaining time to complete the sale process of the plaza by not filing replies. He said the respondents were collecting millions of rupees every month from the buyers unaware of the ‘disputed’ status of the project.

On the other side, the counsel for the respondents sought three-week time from the court to submit their replies.

Justice Ayesha A. Malik turned down the request and directed the respondents to submit replies within a week, otherwise, construction and business activities at the plaza would be stayed.

Meanwhile, a standing counsel submitted a joint reply on behalf of Ministry of Defence, DG Military Lands, and Cantonments and Military Estates Officer. These respondents took a plea that two policy directives of defence ministry issued in 2008 and 2009 permitted the commercial use of A-1 land for the construction of shops and renting them out by the army.

The petitioner’s counsel termed the joint reply just eyewash and said a law could not be superseded by a policy. He said policies of public organisations were subservient to the laws of the country.

A citizen, Nayyer Khan, had filed the writ petition challenging a lease agreement carried out between the Fortress Stadium Management (FSM) and DUPAK developers for construction of the shopping complex.

The petitioner stated that the lease agreement showed Pakistan Army as sole owner of the land but the land belonged to the government in fact, which had given it to the Ministry Of Defence in occupancy. He said the 114 Brigade headquarters had been demolished to construct the shopping plaza. The petitioner prayed to the court to annul the lease agreement being void and also a violation of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2014