STAFF REPORTER
PESHAWAR : The Peshawar High Court has suspended a notification issued by the provincial government for acquiring more than 10,000 kanals of land for the proposed Banon Gul City housing project in Bannu and issued notices to the relevant authorities, seeking their response.
The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Justice Tariq Afridi and Justice Sabitullah Khan. Advocate Pir Hamidullah Shah appeared before the court on behalf of petitioners Noor Afzal and others.
The petitioners’ counsel submitted that the provincial government had decided to acquire more than 10,000 kanals of land for the Banon Gul City residential project. He said the project was being described as one of the province’s major housing schemes after Peshawar Valley and was estimated to cost billions of rupees. A notification regarding the commencement of the project had also been issued on January 27, 2026.
The counsel told the court that agricultural land had allegedly been selected for the project at the desire of political leaders and bureaucrats, while the land of certain owners had been included in the scheme without their consent.
He said the provincial government had maintained that all legal requirements for the Banon Gul City project had been fulfilled and that consent had been obtained from landowners through stamp papers. However, the petitioners disputed this claim, stating that neither stamp papers nor consent had been obtained from the landowners.
The counsel further argued that the land selected for the project was agricultural and unsuitable for the purpose. He said large tracts of alternative land were available in Bannu, including 100,000 kanals in Bakakhel, 11,000 kanals in Muhajir Camp Township and around 50,000 kanals in the Landi Jalandhar area.
He submitted that if the Banon Gul City project was considered necessary, it could be developed on a smaller area through multi-storey buildings, while land for the project could be acquired at alternative locations instead of using agricultural land.
The counsel also informed the court that more than 100 private housing societies in Bannu were already incomplete, while around 40 percent of the work on Bannu Township was still pending. In such circumstances, he argued, the use of agricultural land for another large housing project required serious consideration.
After hearing the arguments, the court suspended the notification issued by the provincial government for the Banon Gul City project and issued notices to the relevant authorities, seeking their response.
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