SC wraps up LDA City project case after minister's assurance

LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Saturday wrapped up a suo motu case pertaining to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) City project when Provincial Minister for Housing Mehmood-ur-Rasheed assured that the affectees of the project would be allotted land, ARY News reported.

A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing the case at the apex court’s Lahore registry.

As the hearing got underway, the chief justice expressed displeasure over the inclusion of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials in the committee formed to ensure the provision of land or compensation to the affectees. “Why NAB’s sword has been hung over people’s head,” he remarked.

He lamented that people made payments to purchase land in the LDA City but did not get it. “Thousands of people held property files. No one will be meted out injustice,” he asserted.

The minister said as many as 9, 000 people held files with regard to owing land in the LDA City, but no land was available to allot them at present.

98,000 kanals of encroached land are yet to be retrieved, he said, adding that the government has planned to earmark 13,500 kanals to develop the phase-I of the project where the affectees would be allotted plots.