Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The matter of Orange-line Metro Train (OMT), a project of the Punjab government, has been fixed for hearing in the top court.

The Supreme Court will take up the matter tomorrow (Monday) along with three other relating applications. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and including Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ijazul Ahsan would hear the petition challenging the Lahore High Court (LHC) verdict.

A divisional bench of the LHC, after hearing 10 different petitions against the project, had restrained the provincial government from pursuing the construction of any structure within a distance of 200 feet from 11 heritage sites.

The court had also nullified the no-objection certificates (NoCs), which were issued by different institutions to allow the construction work. The court had directed for a fresh and independent study on this issue. The LHC had also held that the departments concerned would not grant permission for any construction if the development plan, scheme or new construction was likely to damage the protected sites in any way.

However, the National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) challenged the aforesaid verdict of the LHC in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The appeal filed by Shahid Hamid contended that the high court had erred by ignoring the NESPAK’s national and international expertise in many fields of engineering and economic development.

The NESPAK further submitted that the high court refused to accept its report titled ‘Vibration Analysis of Viaduct Evaluation of Effects on Heritage Buildings’ in which it was established that there would be no danger to any of the five heritage buildings either during construction or during operation of the electric train. It also contended that the constitutional right of Lahore’s citizen could not be violated for merely an apprehension that there may be damage to antiquity properties.