PHC orders govt to provide alternative place to 22 shopkeepers

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday directed secretaries Local Council Board and Communication and Works Department to comply with the court order within a month about providing alternative place to 22 shopkeepers whose shops were pulled down in construction of the Mufti Mehmood Flyover or else face contempt proceedings.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Irshad Qaiser and Justice Roohul Amin Khan issued the contempt notice to the secretaries concerned in contempt petition filed by the shopkeepers.

The petitioners’ lawyer, Shah Faisal Utmankhel, submitted before the bench that the high court on January 2014 gave its verdict after assurance of the provincial government that an alternative place would be provided to the shopkeepers, whose shops were demolished to pave the way for construction of the Mufti Mehmood Flyover at Bacha Khan Chowk. The lawyer said even after over two years, the provincial and district governments had not provided the alternative place for construction of the shops to the shopkeepers.

Additional Advocate General, Mian Arshad Jan, who was representing the provincial government, stated that though the provincial government had agreed to provide alternative place, it was the Local Council Board, which was supposed to provide the land for the shops in the district.

Advocate Sabahuddin, who was representing the Local Council Board, stated that neither the secretary Local Council Board was made a party to the case, nor the board was receiving rent from the shopkeepers.  He said the shopkeepers were submitting rent to the Works and Communication Department and thus it was responsible to provide them alternative place and comply with the court’s order.