ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: In the wake of the devastating earthquake over the weekend, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) on Tuesday took suo motu notice of a luxury housing scheme near Islamabad.
A court statement said Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has summoned the NWFP chief secretary, Capital Development Authority chairman (CDA), the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) and owners and contractors of the Islamabad Chalets Housing Scheme to appear before him on Thursday for a hearing on perceived threat to environment from the housing scheme.
Notices have also been issued to Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan and the NWFP advocate-general to appear on the same day to explain as to why the construction activity on the site should not be restrained through an interim order.
Destruction caused by the recent earthquake is a reminder that development and construction in disregard of environmental concerns could wreak havoc and cause immense loss of life and property, said a report on which the CJP took suo motu notice.
CJP took the matter on the report submitted by Justice Javed Iqbal of the Supreme Court and directed to convert the report into a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution (Supreme Court’s jurisdiction under fundamental rights).
According to the report, the Islamabad Chalets Housing Scheme is situated a few kilometres away from the boundary of the Margalla Hills National Park (MHNP) in the Haripur District. The park is an important ecological preserve and an integral part of Islamabad, which lends the capital the unique characteristic of its beautiful environment.
Islamabad Chalets on Margalla Hills is the first housing scheme and likely to open the way for more such schemes, seriously threatening the environment of the area due to increase in traffic on the already congested narrow road, and add to noise pollution and waste generation, the report feared.
The site of the scheme also falls in the catchment areas of Khanpur Dam, one of the main sources of the supply of water to Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The development will cause damage to the water reservoir through heavy flow of silt, sewer and other pollutants, it said.
This would not only accelerate silting of Khanpur Dam but would also deteriorate the quality of water, thus creating health hazards to the citizens of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
It is also clear that there will be no access to this housing scheme from Islamabad except a road, which goes through the MHNP, thus directly impacting the environment of this protected area.
The report noted that after confirmation of the NWFP government to EPA that neither any permission nor any NOC (no objection certificate) was granted for the chalets and that the project would have serious trans-province impacts, the EPA had issued notices to the owners of the constructing parties that appeared in the press also.
Subsequently the EPA conditionally approved the initial environmental examination (IEE) of this project and issued NOC. But the basis of the NOC is unlawful because the conditions they imposed are unrealistic and an eyewash as they could never be complied with, the report said.
This NOC has been issued without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EPA) having been carried out under Section 2(xi) read with section 12 of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 (PEPA).