By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday dismissed a plea seeking to halt work on the Bhara Kahu bypass project, a portion of which passes through the land of Pakistan’s prestigious Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU).
A professor of the QAU had challenged the construction work on the multi-billion rupees road project in Islamabad’s suburbs, stating that a huge chunk of the university land was being used for the scheme, which could deprive the university of the prime land, and also have a negative bearing on the academic activities due to noise pollution.
The court also vacated a stay it issued earlier to stop working on a portion of the land passing through the university.
The court announced the verdict reserved earlier after counsel for the QAU professor and Capital Development Authority, the executing agency, completed arguments.
IHC allows CDA to continue work
IHC judge Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict, allowing the CDA to continue the work.
The Bhara Khau bypass project hit controversy from the start when the QAU faculty and student raised objections to the project passing through a portion of the university land.
On the other hand, the government attempted to alleviate the concerns of the university teachers and students and the locals, who were also party to the court case.
Earlier, the HC granted a stay until the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) filed an environmental impact assessment report. The Pak-EPA later approved the project after slapping a fine of over Rs. 2 million on the CDA.
During the previous hearing, counsel for the CDA accused the university of seeking undue favours and claimed that the Pak-EPA had cleared the project. He said that CDA has already allocated another piece of land as compensation for the university.
