model town blog

Most people know that Lahore’s Model Town, established in 1922, was the fruition of Dewan Chem Chand’s lifelong dream to see the establishment of a ‘model’ city. Few people know that Advocate Chem Chand’s unshakeable belief in the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity are in fact the values of cooperation upon which the principles of cooperative societies are founded and also the reason why Model Town was established as and still is a cooperative society. What fewer people know is that these values of cooperation were first popularised by George Jacob Holyoake (1817-1906), an English social reformer responsible for the co-operative movement and otherwise infamous for the dual distinction of having coined the phrase “secularism” and of being the last person convicted for blasphemy in England.

What everyone should know is how the Model Town Society today is attempting to avoid the requirements of the law by forcing the lease of 70 kanals of its property to an international chain of cash and carry wholesale stores.

On Feb. 14, 2006, after a troublesome election marred by contentious litigation, the president of the Cooperative Model Town Society (1962) Ltd., Col. (retired) Tahir Kardar, published in a local daily an advertisement inviting expressions of interest from “international cash and carry stores” for the establishment of a “modern air-conditioned store having covered area not less than 100,000 square ft. . . .”

Three parties fit the bill and responded to the request for EOIs. One party, Makro-Habib Pakistan Limited, submitted a successful proposal and was selected for the project. To the best of everyone’s knowledge, this proposal entails the Model Town Society leasing 70 kanals of its land to Makro-Habib Pakistan Limited for 33 years at the at an escalating rent beginning at Rs350,000 per kanal per year (which comes to Rs24,500,000 per year). On the other hand, the note from the president in the Model Town Newsletter (6th edn.) has Col. (retired) Kardar stating that the proposal would net the Society “Rs4 crore per year going up to Rs10 crore per year. . .”

The property lies at the southwest corner of Model Town. According to Chem Chand’s original plan, his “model” co-operative city was to be circled by a greenbelt over 100 feet wide. The 70 kanal plot lies within this green-belt zone and was classified as an amenity plot earmarked for use as a fruit garden. Less than a century later, precious little of the green belt remains other than the Linear Park along Ferozepur Road, and the area where the 70 kanals are now situated is now a busy intersection along PECO Road and Motel Town Extension and abuts onto the lower class housing in and the industrial area of Kot Lakhpat on one side and middle and upper-middle class areas of Garden Town and New Garden Town on the other.

Col (retired) Tahir then called for a special general meeting of the Society on April 30, 2006, to approve the project. This meeting was resisted by conscientious Model Town residents, who filed WP No. 4006 of 2006 against the unauthorised misuse of society land and the forced conversion of an amenity plot into a commercial plot. They were fortunate to have the matter placed before an expert jurist in such matters, Mr Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed.

The Lahore High Court’s judgment in WP No 4006 of 2006 is an essay in finding a common ground between two groups of people, both of whom claim to have the best interests of Model Town and the larger community close to their hearts, and in many ways reflects divergent views of the meaning of the word development. On the one hand, development means the provision of necessary services to citizens, and on the other it means sustainability and a respect for heritage and environment. Justice Azmat Saeed, however, pointed out the limitations to such views. For instance, in his opinion, “growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell.” Elsewhere, the honorable justice declares that “master plans cannot be amended through neglect”.

WP No 4006 of 2006 was finally disposed of with the observation that, if anything, the conversion of an amenity plot in the Society’s master plan, unlike the conversion of a residential building into a commercial plot, could only be brought about by a resolution of the members of the Society in a general meeting. Once that was done, the Society was bound to follow the law and obtain permission from the LDA for such conversion. The basic principle at work here is that a man (or a society) is free to do what he pleases with his property provided he harms no one. It’s only when action on one’s property harms third persons that the policy of our laws tells us permission from a local authority must be obtained.

Put in place by the honorable justice’s comments as well as by a rejection of their appeal (ICA No. 388 of 2006), in late January 2007, the Model Town Society applied to the Lahore Development Authority for permission to convert the 70 kanals into a commercial zone stating that “the annual general meeting approved the conversion. . .” in its meeting of April 30, 2006. On Feb. 2, 2006 — less than a week later — the LDA placed an advertisement in the local press calling for objections to the application. Conscientious citizens have done the needful and written to the LDA, but to date, they have not received a reply and know nothing of the status of the application.

What the LDA seems to have missed is that the Model Town Society is a “proponent” of a project in terms of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997, in that it must obtain an environmental impact assessment of the project before it can apply for approval for the change of its master plan. Because of the requirements of the law, it is simply inconceivable that the LDA can make a reasoned decision on the Society’s application without knowledge of how it will affect the residents of the vicinity and the citizens at large.

Anyone who has seen a wholesale market anywhere else in the world can attest to, for instance, the vast number of urban commuters who visit such premises. This is one of the reasons why wholesale markets are situated far from urban areas: land for parking is cheaper and more easily obtained. Where one is going to find parking for a market with a total covered area of 100,000 square feet is anyone’s guess, and how this can be done in an area where the 70 kanals is situated will be nothing short of a miracle. The environmental aspect of the conversion now comes sharply in focus as the proposed land-use by Makro Habib Pakistan Limited will have far reaching consequences for the area.

Let’s see how the body vested with the responsibility for the development of Lahore responds and decides this matter.

The writer is an advocate of the high court and a member of the adjunct faculty at LUMS. He has an interest in urban planning. Email: ralam@nexlinx.net.pk

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