ISLAMABAD - Despite lapse of six months, the apex court has not announced its judgment in the Orange Line Metro Train project case so far.

One of the counsels of the appellants said that no legal or constitutional issues are involved in the case as the court has to examine only technical aspects of the case.

A five-judge bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, on April 17 reserved the judgment in the Orange Line Metro Train project after hearing the arguments of all parties.

Nespak, Lahore Development Authority and Punjab Transit Authority and the Punjab government had filed the appeals against the Lahore High Court verdict. The LHC had set aside the NOC issued by the Archaeology Department and ordered to stop work on the project.

Kamil Khan, an architect, had also submitted a statement in the apex court in which he expressed concerns over the OLMT project. According to Kamil Khan, the construction phase vibration is more of a threat than the operation phase vibration, as the magnitude of vibration is greater and the distances from the vibration source to vibration receiver is less.

The actual distance to monument for cut and cover during construction is 15.8 ft closer to the monument than stated by Nespak and verified by TYPSA. He said that the Nespak/LDA has acknowledged the demolition of the part of the church building. He said according to the LDA/Nespak presentation to the DG Archaeology and the Special Premises Committee and Advisory Committee: “A portion of foundation and the part of church building towards Nabha Road side shall be affected … but the affected part of church and boundary wall during construction shall be restored to its original condition after the construction.”

Azhar Siddique, counsel of Civil Society Network, said the court has to examine technical material, which is too much, therefore it considers all the aspects of the projects, for the interest of justice. He said from Chauburji to onward they have 26 stations but no work started on it.

Punjab Transit Authority denied that the construction work is done in 200ft distances of heritage. He, however, said there would be constant monitoring of the project. He said after the Lahore High Court stay order work on metro train project was stopped and even the authorities did not take soil samples of those portions of the project.