ISLAMABAD: Making it clear that the Panama leaks case was not a matter of an individual but that of constitution, Justice Ejaz Afzal of the Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked that the court’s verdict would set a precedent to be “remembered for centuries”.
He gave these remarks while presiding over a five-member larger bench of the SC during the course of hearing of the Orange Line Metro Train project on Tuesday.
Justice Ejaz Afzal headed the five-member larger bench, while its other members were Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Mazhar Mian Khail.
During the course of the hearing, Khawaja Ahmad Hussain, the counsel for petitioner IA Rehman, took the plea that the matter of Orange Line was not that of engineering or civil engineering. “The real issue is protection of national heritage,” he said.
Justice Ejaz Afzal remarked, “On this point, the court and the complainants are on one page.”
He said that the court also wanted protection of national heritage. He also told the petitioner to point out loopholes in the report of experts instead of leveling allegation of bias against them.
He remarked, “We have to see if the reservations expressed by the petitioners regarding historical heritage are correct or otherwise. If reservations are not correct then we will throw them out.” Khawaja Ahmad Hussain took the plea that the overall review of construction of train pillars and vibrations produced due to running of train had not been made.
Justice Sheikh Azmat asked the counsel for NESPAK how many trains would pass on the track within an hour and how much would be the intensity of the vibrations of the trains using the track within an hour.
Khawaja Ahmad Hussain also said that experts had asked to take more steps to make the project secure.
Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed remarked, “Tell us what more steps should be taken.”
Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked, while inquiring from the counsel for the petitioner, “Do you want that the entire project of Orange Line be abolished or should steps be taken for protecting the historical heritage?”
On this, the counsel said, “We don’t want to create any hindrance in the mass transit project. Metro track should be laid underground in front of historical buildings.”
