Bhara Kahu bypass project: IHC turns down petitions of QAU faculty members, others

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has turned down the petitions of Quaid-e-Azam University’s faculty members and others against the construction of Bhara Kahu bypass project on a piece of land owned by the varsity.

A single bench of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb on Monday announced the verdict, which he had reserved in the petition of five faculty members of QAU seeking to restrain the Capital Development Authority (CDA) from constructing a segment of bypass project on university’s land.

In its short order, the IHC bench said, “The instant writ petition as well as the connected writ petitions, ie, W. P. No.4077/2022, W. P. No. 4371/2022 and W. P. No. 4543/2022 are dismissed.”

Previously, the bench had directed the CDA to submit details of expenditure being incurred on the Bhara Kahu bypass project passing through a land of the QAU, Islamabad.

The counsel for the university professor said that it is a fact that the QAU land will be used for the bypass project and the problem lies as who owns the land. The CDA has taken the stance that the land was given to the QAU on lease and the university syndicate has permitted to pass the road through its land on a conditional basis.

The CDA’s lawyer, Hafiz Arafat, said that not a single structure was required to be demolished for Bhara Kahu Bypass project. He further said that the university did not sign any lease agreement with the CDA in the last 40 years while other all universities in Islamabad had lease agreements with the civic body.

The counsel said that the CDA could initiate any project of public interest under the lease agreement. He added that the QAU had not agreement but still it was trying to get benefits of it.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif laid the foundation stone of the BharaKahu bypass on September 30 and had directed the National Logistics Cell (NLC) to complete the project in three months.

The five kilometres road, including one-kilometer flyover, will start from Murree Road near the QAU stop and culminate on the same road near the Jugi bus stop adjacent to the Punjab Cash and Carry, from where the flyover will start and then end outside Bhara Kahu Bazaar towards Murree.

In this matter, 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.

The counsel said that the bypass was being constructed in close proximity to the residential colony of the university and the construction of a road passing through the university will also expose the students, faculty and staff to security risks.

Counsel for CDA Nazir Jawad told the court that the civic agency planned the project on 199 kanals of the university land and transferred 225 kanals in the university’s name. He said the land allotted to CDA was free from any encroachment and its possession had also been handed over to the management.

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.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022