LAHORE: Despite Supreme Court (SC) orders against installing billboards in public places in both civil and cantonment areas, a huge billboard has been put up in the posh Falcon Society in Gulberg III area of the provincial capital, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday.
However, the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) claimed that they did not allow anyone to violate the law in this regard and had looked into the matter.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, PHA spokesperson Nadia Tufail said, “Falcon Society, although under the jurisdiction of PHA, is administered by Pakistan Air Force (PAF). We received a complaint about the billboard being placed in in the gated community and had stopped them but later, the army came and granted them [advertiser] permission anyway”.
“Be it PHA or PAF, no one can violate orders of the SC. Therefore, we have filed a complaint about this matter in the relevant police station,” she added.
It is pertinent to mention here that in October 2018, the Supreme Court had issued orders to remove all billboards installed in civil and cantonment areas across the country.
Then Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar remarked that orders given for Karachi earlier in this regard would be applicable for other cities as well.
He also asked under which authority the billboards were installed within the administrative jurisdiction of railways and Lahore PHA, observing that it could not be done on public property.
