Daily Times

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday declared procurement of land under section iv as unlawful in its decision on petitions against Ravi River Urban Project.

The high court bench ruled that the schemes without master plan are unlawful and declared the section iv notification as void. “Agricultural land can be acquired only when there is a proper legal framework for it but the land for RRUDP was acquired through a violation of Land Acquisition Act, 1894,” the court remarked.

“The loans for the project have been borrowed illegally,” the bench said. Justice Shahid Karim ordered the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) to repay the loan to the Punjab government it had borrowed from it.

The LHC said, while announcing the verdict, that since RRUDP’s master plan is the basic document, all the schemes should be under the masterplan as per the law.

In September last year, PM Imran Khan had laid the foundation stone of Ravi Riverfront Urban Development project. It is an urban development project in Lahore that runs along the Ravi River in a northeast to southwest direction.