PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Friday stopped the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) from making any changes to a green belt and a jogging track in one of the Hayatabad Township sectors until further orders.
A bench consisting of Justice Syed M Attique Shah and Justice Syed Arshad Ali put the PDA director-general on notice seeking his response to a petition jointly filed by 29 residents of Hayatabad’s Phase VII.
The respondents in the petition are the civic agency’s DG and director (planning and development), provincial government through its chief secretary, and local government secretary.
The petitioners requested the court to permanently stop the respondents from converting the green belt into any residential or commercial project.
The bench fixed March 13 for next hearing into the petition.
Khan Badshah and other petitioners said the PDA director-general had given assurance to the court on a petition in 2017 that the municipality won’t disturb the master plan of Hayatabad Township in any manner.
Seeks civic agency’s reply to petition on ‘illegal activities’ in the area
They said the DG had also claimed that the PDA wasn’t going to propose the use of any green belt for residential or commercial activity.
The petitioners said the high court had disposed of that petition on the basis of the DG’s assurance.
Lawyer Ziaur Rehman Khan appeared for the petitioners and said his clients were residents of Sector E-4, Phase VII, Hayatabad, and owned one-kanal plots each.
He said those plots had a 12 metres wide road in front of them, while adjacent to it was a green belt and open space, which was part of a park.
The counsel said on the extreme left side of the green belt, the respondents had built a jogging track, which ran for three-four kilometres and was frequented by the residents.
He said there besides the green belt and jogging track there was a dry water channel, Gandao Khwar, which was a natural boundary between Phase VI and VII of Hayatabad.
The counsel said that in 2013, the respondents had started clearing the said green belt and open space with the help of heavy machinery.
He said some petitioners, were then informed by the respondents that the green belt was being converted into 87 one-kanal plots each and for that purpose, they were also planning to reclaim land from the water channel by earth filling.
The counsel said that at that time, the matter was challenged in the high court, which disposed of the petition many years later in light of the assurance by the PDA chief.
“For many years, the respondents remained silent on the matter but they have now resumed their illegal activities in the shape of filling the water channel to narrow down its natural flow, bring it up to the level of the green belt and convert it into residential plots. This act is illegal as the respondents can’t make any changes to the master plan of the area,” he said.
Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2023