LHC decides fate of Royal Kitchens of Lahore Fort.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has held that there is no provision of law which prohibits the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) to establish a restaurant in the Royal Kitchens of Lahore Fort, Pakistan Today learnt on Thursday.

Earlier, after the conservation of the Royal Kitchens, the WCLA had planned to set up a dining restaurant in the Royal Kitchens, but the plan could not be materialised because of a writ petition filed against the authority in 2017. In the petition, the petitioner had pleaded that it is illegal to establish a restaurant in the fort, as it is a world heritage site. The petitioner had also pleaded that the WCLA has no authority to invite bids or award contracts for the restaurant, erect new construction, alter or demolish the structure of the fort premises, and lease out the fort or its premises.

However, the court dismissed the petition and decided that no interference by the court is warranted. 'When all the requirements prescribed under the law have been fulfilled, nothing illegal or devastating..... is going to be done and the impugned order has been passed while considering each and every aspect of the subject, no interference at this stage by this court is warranted. Resultantly, the appeal in hand having no force and substance stands dismissed in limine,' the court wrote in the order.

The officials of WCLA informed Pakistan Today that throughout the proceedings of the court, they had been providing different details in support of WCLA's view of establishing a dining restaurant in the Royal Kitchens. The court was provided with the complete details of the Antiquities Act, 1975 by the WCLA. Three sections of the Act were quoted in the reply to the petition, section 18 regarding restriction on use of protected immovable antiquity, section 20 regarding restrictions on repair and renovation of protected immovable antiquity and section 22 regarding execution of development schemes and new constructions in proximity to immovable antiquity.

The Master Plan of Lahore Fort 2006-2011 was also presented to the court.

The officials informed that the adaptive reuse of the Royal Kitchens had been endorsed in the report of the Reactive Monitoring Mission of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, who had made a physical visit of the site.

'To make the proposed interventions sustainable and give the previously neglected heritage 'a function in the life of the community' in line with the World Heritage Convention, the rehabilitated...