PHC stops bid to turn University Town into commercial zone

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday stopped the provincial government committee from working, which had been tasked with pointing out some residential areas of the University Town for conversion into commercial ones.

A division bench comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan passed the restraining order in a contempt of court petition against the provincial government.

The court also issued contempt of court notice to the provincial government. The court directed to submit a reply and explain as to why the government formed a committee for declaring the residential areas of University Town into the commercial ones.

The court issued the directives in a contempt of court petition filed by Miss Neelofar, a resident of University Town, through her lawyer Qazi Jawad Ihsanullah.

During the course of hearing, the lawyer submitted that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) in its decision had declared the commercial activities and use of plazas and buildings for commercial purposes as illegal. 

It had directed the Town-III and district administration to seal all the buildings, including houses, plazas and bungalows that were built for residential purposes but were later converted into commercial buildings in the University Town.

He submitted that the PHC had also dismissed the writ petitions filed against the administration’s orders to end commercial activities in the University Town and directed the University Town administration to give four months to all the educational institutions and hospitals to shift from the University Town to other places.

The lawyer submitted that despite the high court decision and directions, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government formed a committee and gave a task to prepare recommendations and point out areas in the University Town for declaring them to be commercial areas.

Qazi Jawad said the provincial government action was a clear violation of the high court decision and it had committed a contempt of court. He informed the bench that the petitioner had also filed writ petition in the high court for implementation of the high court decision to stop commercial activities in the University Town.

The lawyer said that the University Town is purely a residential area. He said people started commercial activities in the area that created difficulties for the residents.He said the town administration had issued notices to the owners of commercial buildings and plazas, hospitals and educational institutions under Section 109 of the Local Government Act, 2012 and section 71 of Local Government Act, 2013 under which commercial activities were banned in the residential areas.

He submitted that hundreds of residential buildings were being used for commercial activities against the law. On September 26, 2013, the PHC had directed the Town-III and district administration to seal all the buildings, including houses, plazas and bungalows that were built for residential purposes but were later converted into commercial entities.

On the other hand, an official of the Town administration said the United Nations has approached the federal government to retain its offices in University Town, Peshawar after receiving notices by Town-III administration to shift out of the residential locality.

The official said the Town-III administration had given a month deadline to at least a dozen offices of the UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations to vacate the university town.