IHC extends stay order against construction of Bhara Kahu bypass

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has extended its stay order against the construction of the Bhara Kahu bypass project on a piece of land owned by Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU).

IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb took up the petition of the five faculty members seeking to restrain the Capital Development Authority (CDA) from constructing a segment of bypass project on the university’s land.

The court extended the stay order directing the both parties to complete their arguments on the next hearing and deferred the hearing till December 2. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sept 30 laid the foundation stone for the bypass and directed the National Logistics Cell (NLC) to complete the project within three months. The 5km-long road, including a 1km flyover, will start from Murree Road near the university stop and culminate on Murree Road near the Jugi bus stop adjacent to Punjab Cash and Carry from where it will have a one-km-long flyover which will end outside the Bhara Kahu bazaar towards Murree.

Since the project was an initiative of PM Shehbaz Sharif, the CDA appeared to be more diligent as its legal team was present in the courtroom at the first hearing of the case even though the court had not even put the civic agency on notice. But the legal team failed to get any relief as the court issued a stay order against the construction.

The petitioners Dr Azizur Rehman, Ilhan Niaz, Aqeel Bukhari, and associate professors Asif Ali and Amir Ali filed the petition through their counsel Kashif Ali Malik. It may be mentioned that the supreme decision-making body of the university, the syndicate, had approved the conditional land swap deal with the CDA for the Bhara Kahu bypass project, as nine out of 12 syndicate members backed the agreement with the civic body.

Advocate Malik argued that the new alignment of the bypass would divide the university’s campus and the road would become a de-facto border between the two sides of the campus.