PESHAWAR: A local court on Wednesday conditionally accepted a plea of the Pakistan International Airlines seeking possession of a plot in Peshawar`s Hayatabad Township that was allotted to it around three decades ago for establishing a planetarium.

Additional district judge Liaqat Ali accepted the PIA`s petition, with the condition to make the planetarium fully functional within three years of taking land possession and declared that if that didn`t happen, the national flag carrier would have to return the plot to the Peshawar Development Authority.

He added that the PDA`s condition for PIA to pay Rs60 million for the restoration of land allotment to it was unwarranted.

A 30-kanal plot was allotted to the PIA for the establishment of a planetarium and possession of the site was given to it through an allotment letter on March 27, 1995.

However, the PDA had cancelled the allotment of the said land on Oct 29, 2009, and had withdrawn the allotment letter claiming that the planetarium had not been made functional by PIA.

The allotment was again restoredthrough a letter on Nov 25, 2015, subject to certain conditions including payment of Rs60 million on or before Dec 22, 2015.

The restoration of allotment was again withdrawn on Jan 17, 2017, when PIA failed to deposit the said amount stating that the plot had initially been allotted to it free of charge.

The court ruled that the condition that the PIA should deposit Rs60 million was alien to the original allotment letter as well as the conditions mentioned therein.

The counsel for PIA said that the country`s president, through a letter on Aug 30, 1984, allotted a 30-kanal area in G-2, Hayatabad, for setting up a PIA planetarium to educate the school children about astronomy and cosmology.

He said after the PDA handed over physical possession of the land to PIA, it constructed a huge building for the required purpose and German technology and machinery was installed there by German engineers in 2008.

The lawyer said that the petitioner had invested Rs150 million and provided those facilities to students.

He contended that the PDA cancelled plot allotment without assigning any reason, but the allotment was later restored but with a demand for penalty payment.

The counsel said that while correspondence was still going on between parties, the PDA sealed the premises on Nov 23, 2017, and started demolishing its boundary walls without serving any prior notice.He said Karachi and Lahore also had PIA planetariums for which land was allotted through presidential order.

The lawyer said local authorities of Punjab and Sindh had not interfered in those planetariums.

He said that the original allotment letter declared that the land should be utilised for a planetarium only and if it was to be abandoned at any stage of the project, the possession of land should be handed back to PDA.

The counsel claimed that the project had never been abandoned and actually,it became functional in April 2011.

The court, in an eight-page judgement, observed: `The cause for delay, put forward by petitioner, is that machinery to the total cost of Rs15 crore hasbeeninstalled.

Yet the German engineers were not ready to stay due to the law and order situation, in the backdrop of war on terror. This sort of explanation on part of the petitioner is not sufficient to explain such a long delay.

It added that even otherwise, such administrative delay was not acceptable where matters of national and public importance needed quick decision and implementation.

`The petitioner is lacking such capacity and has fallen into unnecessary administrative delays in a bureaucratic style.

Thecourtalsoobservedthattheconditions imposed by PDA in the subsequent restoration order of 2015 were not warranted by the law as well as terms of the original allotment of 1995.He said Karachi and Lahore also had PIA planetariums for which land was allotted through presidential order.

The lawyer said local authorities of Punjab and Sindh had not interfered in those planetariums.

He said that the original allotment letter declared that the land should be utilised for a planetarium only and if it was to be abandoned at any stage of the project, the possession of land should be handed back to PDA.

The counsel claimed that the project had never been abandoned and actually,it became functional in April 2011.

The court, in an eight-page judgement, observed: `The cause for delay, put forward by petitioner, is that machinery to the total cost of Rs15 crore hasbeeninstalled.

Yet the German engineers were not ready to stay due to the law and order situation, in the backdrop of war on terror. This sort of explanation on part of the petitioner is not sufficient to explain such a long delay.

It added that even otherwise, such administrative delay was not acceptable where matters of national and public importance needed quick decision and implementation.

`The petitioner is lacking such capacity and has fallen into unnecessary administrative delays in a bureaucratic style.

Thecourtalsoobservedthattheconditions imposed by PDA in the subsequent restoration order of 2015 were not warranted by the law as well as terms of the original allotment of 1995.