LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday suspended a Punjab government decision regarding blacklisting a construction company awarded contract of Orange Line Metro Train’s package-II from Chauburji Chowk to Ali Town.

Justice Ayesha A. Malik passed the order on petition of M/S Maqbool Calsons that was awarded a Rs 18bn construction contract.

Advocate Taffazul Haider Rizvi argued on behalf of the petitioner-company that the metro train project was delayed due to multiple reasons. The government in order to avoid payments of additional amounts due under the agreement terminated the contract and through a sham process blacklisted the company. He said the government without adopting adjudicatory mechanism given under the contract agreement passed the impugned order of blacklisting the petitioner-company.

An assistant advocate general opposed the petition and defended the government decision. However, the judge suspended the impugned order and sought report from the government.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2016