The Supreme Court on Saturday directed the Punjab and city district governments to take overall 24 petrol pumps being run on state land in Lahore and put them on sale through open bidding. A bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a matter regarding state land given on lease without transparent manner on throwaway prices.
Deputy Commissioner Lahore Saleha Saeed submitted a report before the court and said there were 32 petrol pumps established on the state land in the provincial capital. She said four of them were established on the land of Municipal Corporation of Lahore (MCL) while 20 were on the land of the provincial government. Land of remaining eight pumps was already acquired by the government for the project of Orange Line Metro Train.
The DC pointed out that owners of all 24 pumps had not been vacating possession of the land despite the fact that their lease stood cancelled several years ago. One of the owners had been running their pumps despite cancellation of lease in 1961 taking shelter of stay orders from civil courts, she added.
Owners of the petrol pumps were also present in the court along with their counsel. The Chief Justice observed that the court would not allow dolling out state land at the cost of public exchequer and the ordered DC to seal the petrol pumps immediately.