Punjab government on Tuesday sought permission from a full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) to set up public library, gym and a bowling alley on the site of multi-million Imax Theatre on Doongi Ground, near Mini Market, Gulberg. The court issued notices for March 16 in the petition of Punjab government.
The petitioners' counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique, however, opposed it saying, Doongi Ground had been earmarked as a public park and could not be used for commercial purposes. He said that recreational facilities, such as parks and grounds, were reducing rapidly in the city due to commercialisation of their lands and should be protected.
The petition was filed by Karachi-based NGO Shehri-CBE (Citizens for Better Environment), journalist Ardshir Cowasji and 11 residents of the area in 2006 when Prevaiz Elahi was the chief minister of Punjab. The petitioner's counsel had submitted that the project was illegal and no objection certificate was not obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The petition had also challenged the transfer of the land of Doongi Ground from the LDA to the PHA and then to the Punjab Entertainment Company submitting that the whole was done in violation of the law.
The money was officially released to the company in violation of the law, the petition added. On August 8, 2006, a single bench of the LHC had stopped the provincial government and the Punjab Entertainment Company (PEC) from further construction of the Complex. The stay order was vacated on March 09 last 2007 by LHC division bench and work was resumed. However, the petitioners moved another petition in the SC, which had stopped the work again and referred the case to LHC.