ISLAMABAD The Punjab government has shelved the New Murree resort project that its predecessor had initiated in 2005 but which got bogged down in controversies from the very start.

Additional Advocate General of Punjab Khadim Hussain Qaiser informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that 'the Punjab government has abandoned the project, and dissolved the authority set up to supervise the scheme, on news reports that it could disturb the local eco system'.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry himself had taken suo motu notice of the criticism that surrounded the township scheme at its launch that it would benefit land mafia and pollute the water sources of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

After four eventful years, which saw many changes in the fortune of Chief Justice Chaudhry, a 14-judge bench of the Supreme Court has resumed the suo motu hearings of the controversial New Murree scheme.

After hearing the Punjabs view on Tuesday, the bench issued summons to Secretary Environment and chief of an environment protection agency to appear before it on Thursday to give an undertaking that similar plans would not be launched in future.

Headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry the bench comprises Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Husain Jillani, Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, Justice Raza Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice a week after reading an article in Dawn on September 8, 2005 which said the New Murree scheme had the potential of causing harm to Murree hill forests, the environment and the waters of the Simly and Rawal dams which are the main sources of water for the people of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The scheme, now abandoned, called for developing the New Murree tourist resort over 4,111 acres in the Patriata Hills forests, 24 kilometres south-east of Murree.

According to the writer of the article hundred of thousands of coniferous trees would have to be cut or uprooted for building the resort. That would have resulted in less annual rainfall in the catchment area of both Simly and Rawal dams, reducing their supplies to the twin cities by half. On September 14, 2005, the chief justice noted that the project was being pursued by the then PML-Q government of Pervaiz Ellahi despite its rejection by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Environment and the concern expressed by the Capital Development Authority, local government representatives and the irrigation department.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan too had accused the then Punjab government of destroying the Patriata forests in the name of constructing a tourist resort.

On Tuesday the law officer of the present Punjab government, Khadim Qaiser, told the bench that the reserve forest land that was acquired for the project had been returned to the forest department while three Tehsils namely Kotli Satiyan, Kahutta and Murree had been declared environmentally fragile.

That had been done not only to protect the natural surroundings and habitat but also to keep the area attractive for tourism, he said.

When Advocate Mansoor Ali Shah representing WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) expressed the fear to the court that as the law under which the project was launched was still intact, similar schemes could be launched in future too, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday observed that people should be vigilant of their fundamental rights.

'The Supreme Court can annul a law for want of legal validity but can not guarantee its revival again in future,' he said observing that 'here the Constitution was amended overnight just by issuing an ordinance'.