PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has issued a stay order temporarily stopping the provincial government and Peshawar Development Authority from acquiring land for the New Peshawar Valley, one of the largest government residential schemes in the province.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Syed Arshad Ali declared that action on the Dec 14, 2020, notification issued for the housing project by the land acquisition collector under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act would remain suspended until further orders.

It issued notices to the respondents, including the provincial housing secretary, Provincial Housing Authority and the PDA, for response to the petition against the housing project observing that the case was about a very crucial issue of public importance.

The bench set a one-month deadline for respondents to respond to the petition jointly filed by several residents of different villages, including Gul Fama and others, who claimed that the government had issued the impugned notification for arbitrarily acquiring their land for the New Peshawar Valley housing scheme.

Issues notices to housing dept, PDA for response to petition

The petitioners claimed that there were two other old projects, including Regi Model Town Peshawar and Jalozai Housing Scheme Nowshera, work on which were launched many years ago but had yet to be completed.

They, however, said the government had initiated the new scheme due to ‘vested interests.’

The bench ordered the fixing of the petition for hearing in the third week of next month. It also directed the respondents to address issues raised by it on their comments.

The bench wondered how and for what purpose the idea of the New Peshawar Valley was conceived and on what purpose, the provincial government had approved the housing scheme.

It ordered the placing of the summary submitted to the cabinet on record.

The bench also wondered whether any physical survey was conducted regarding the suitability of soil, whether the concerns of the residents were considered and how they would be addressedbefore the housing scheme’s launch, whether the project’s impact on the agriculture was considered, whether its environmental approval had been obtained, and what the project’s impact would be on the province’s exchequer.

It also asked respondents if it would be expedient to launch the housing scheme after the government “abandoned” two such projects, including Regi Model Town Peshawar and Jalozai Housing Scheme Nowshera.

Mohammad Tariq Afridi, lawyer for the petitioners, contended that his clients were residents of various villages and owned considerable agricultural land at the site of the proposed housing project.

He said the respondents, including the provincial government with mala fide and dishonest intention, had launched the New Peshawar Valley just to benefit certain influential persons, including bureaucrats.

The lawyer pointed out that the provincial government had executed two housing projects, including Regi Model Town Peshawar and Jalozai Housing Scheme Nowshera, but hadn’t handed over the “physical possession” of the plots to allottees despite the spending of huge sums of money from the exchequer on land acquisition.

He contended that the ongoing land acquisition for another model town in the name of the New Peshawar Valley was contrary to the basic concept of the eminent domain of the government, which empowered it to take private property and convert it for public use.

Mr Afridi maintained that the impugned land acquisition and launch of the housing scheme by the provincial government did not qualify the public purpose and instead, the proposed land acquisition and establishment of the New Peshawar Valley was contrary to public purpose.

He claimed that proper physical survey for the New Peshawar Valley hadn’t been conducted as the residents opposed the scheme.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2022