PESHAWAR, Nov 30: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the provincial government and district administration to submit site plans of all the gardens of the provincial capital and the government plan, if any, to maintain them.

A two-member bench comprising the Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Sardar Shaukat Hayat fixed Jan 11, 2011, for next hearing with the direction to the government to evolve a comprehensive plan about how to save the remaining historical gardens from further degradation.The bench directed that it should also be seen what ways and mechanisms were in the offing to create and establish spaces for recreation of the poor.

“If government thinks that this country has to stay and its people have to stay, some measures shall be taken to show that they are ruling human beings and not herd of sheep and cattle,” Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal observed.

The chief justice expressed concern that construction had been carried out on vast portion of the historical Shahi Bagh and in the site plan the said garden was not visible now.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the issue a few months ago over an application sent by a social activist, Shakeel Waheedullah Khan, and had converted it into a writ petition.

During last hearing the bench had directed the provincial government to evolve a plan for restoring the original shape of different historical gardens which have been converted into buildings in the provincial capital.

The Additional Advocate General, Lal Jan Khattak, informed the court on Tuesday that a high level meeting was held on Nov 27 which was attended by four or five administrative secretaries and the issue was discussed threadbare.

He informed that huge sum of money had been used on construction of Arabab Niaz Cricket Stadium, Government College for Boys, Shah Tehmas Football Ground, Gymkhana Club, Pardah Bagh, etc, in the Shahi Bagh and now it was impossible to dismantle those structures.

Mr Khattak stated that the meeting had proposed the space left over in Shahi Bagh would be fully preserved; plantation would be made in it and more funds would be allocated for making it more flowery.

The bench observed that all big spaces had been occupied by the government and it had been acting like land mafia. The bench observed that the government should be thankful to the petitioner who had come forward and highlighted this issue; otherwise the remaining portion of the Shahi Bagh would have also been converted into many buildings.

The petitioner, Shakeel Waheedullah, contended that the government appeared least interested in saving the future of their children. He stated that now no space was available for the children to play. He pointed out that offices of the district administration had been set up at Shahi Bagh, and the Pardah Bagh, meant for females, had been converted into wedding hall.

He pointed out that the historical Wazir Bagh had also been a victim of land grabbers. He regretted that the successive governments had defaced the historical gardens, which were heritage of the people.

Advocate Sabahuddin Khattak, appearing for the district government, stated that construction of a football stadium had been in progress with the support of FIFA ground of international standard.

The bench inquired about the original measurement of Shahi Bagh and its present status. The counsel informed that originally the Shahi Bagh was spread over an area of over 610 kanals, and after carrying out different projects the left over space was now about 90 kanals.