KARACHI: A two-judge bench of Sindh High Court, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, has issued notices to the federal and provincial law officers, seeking their comments on a petition against construction of M9, a 139-km-long six-lane motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad.
The petition was filed by 344 stakeholders, including owners of CNG and petrol stations, dairy farmers, and individuals engaged in different businesses along the Superhighway. The petitioners said that they were aggrieved at conversion of existing four-lane Super Highway into a six-lane motorway, which would endanger their livelihood.
The counsel for the petitioners submitted federal authorities had intimated petitioners about construction of motorway project, adding in 2009 when the government announced conversion of existing superhighway into the motorway, since then petitioners have been consistently showing their strong reservations over project but authorities have turned a deaf ear to their concerns.
The counsel apprehended due to fencing on either side of motorway petitioners and thousands of other people’s access to their business, homes, villages and lands, workplaces, graveyards, mosques would be denied which was violation of law and Article 15 of Constitution.
Therefore, petitioners requested Court to declare project as impractical and unfeasible and fencing on sides motorway would the deprive petitioners right to freely move.
