Rawalpindi - Lahore High Court (lHC) rawalpindi Bench on Friday issued notices to punjab caretaker government, national Highway authority, Election Commission of pakistan and other departments in response to a petition filed against freezing of development funds and stopping projects in Murree.
The apex court sought reply from the respondents within seven days. residents of Murree including Sajid abbasi and Saad Salim Raja have filed a petition with lHC rawalpindi Bench Justice Sultan Tanvir through their lawyer Sardar Abdul Raziq Khan stating former Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi while keeping in view special status of Murree has given approval for renovation/ construction of roads, schools, highways and other public projects and work started on the projects However, the caretaker government of Punjab apart from freezing all the development funds also stopped contractors from working on development projects in Murree which was a sheer violation of rights of residents of hill station. They pleaded that no government can roll down the development projects in the name of elections adding that delay in completion of projects would add more costs to the national kitty. ECP’s step of freezing development funds is illegal, they said.
They appealed the court to cancel decision of the caretaker government. lHC rawalpindi Bench Justice Sultan Tanvir accepted the petition for hearing and issued notices to the respondents. The hearing in case was postponed till February 23, 2023. Separately, lHC rawalpindi Bench Justice Tanvir Sultan has also issued notices to respondents in response to a petition filed against caretaker punjab government’s decision regarding the cancellation of Murree’s district status.
The apex court also summoned advocate General of punjab to assist the court during hearing of case. pTi former Mps Sadaqat Ali Khan and Maj (R) Latasab Satti had challenged the decision of caretaker punjab government in lahore High Court (lHC) rawalpindi Bench on Thursday last. Senior Member Board of revenue punjab, Chief Minister punjab and principal Secretary provincial Secretary Election Commission have been made as respondents.
In the petition, the petitioners stated that during the Tehreek-e-insaf (pTi) regime, the former punjab government had given Murree district status, for this purpose a formal notification was issued last year. as it consists of beautiful mountain ranges, Murree and Kotli Sattian are prominent in tourism, especially during the rainy season, there is a huge rush of tourists here, they said. They said that the caretaker government will run day to day affairs of the province till the new elections but the present caretaker government maliciously suspended the decision of the previous government and de-notified the district status of Murree and issued a new notification on February 15 to cancel the separate district status of Murree.
Former MNA Sadaqat Ali Abbasi said that that the decision to grant Murree district status was taken by an elected government, in this context, a caretaker government can neither formulate any permanent policy nor change any policy and permanent decision of the previous elected government. He said that this action of the government was completely illegal because the caretaker government has no authority to suspend this notification. He said that this decision of the government exposed the intention of the caretaker set up. Similarly, lHC rawalpindi Bench Justice Tanvir Sultan also accepted a petition for hearing filed against Punjab government’s decision regarding the cancellation of Talagang district status. Malik Faisal Kabir, Malik Ijaz Jasial and Mehboob Hussain Jarah had challenged the decision of caretaker punjab government through their lawyer Malik Muhammad Kabir Advocate.
The petitioners made Governor punjab, Chief Secretary punjab, Secretary Board of revenue, Secretary Coordination of CM punjab and Secretary law and parliamentary affairs punjab as respondents. They said that a public elected government of pTi had given Talagang the status of district through a notification issued by Chief Secretary punjab.
However, the caretaker provincial government had cancelled the notification. The court accepted the petition for hearing and issued notices to respondents.
