A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has tried to make the Punjab government and bureaucracy understand the basic provisions of the Constitution, which they are openly defying through their illegal acts. In its detailed judgment, the LHC has struck down the seven kilometres long signal-free corridor from Qurtaba Chowk, Jail Road to Liberty Chowk, Main Boulevard Gulberg. The court has taken serious notice of the wastage of public money amounting to Rs 60 million on this project launched on the whim of the Punjab government while ignoring all the laws of the land. In its ruling, the LHC has taken to task the Director Generals (DGs) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) for violating the law in order to fulfil the Punjab government’s desire. The court directions to the National Accountability Bureau to hold an inquiry against both DGs offers some respite for the petitioners who were struggling from pillar to post to save the endangered environment of the city and its basic features. The issue that has not been addressed in the court ruling is that those really responsible have not been named. Those who ordered the launching of this project while ignoring its negative environmental effects and the suffering of ordinary citizens have got off scot-free. Instead only the DGs of the LDA and EPA have been held responsible for abusing power and becoming part of this illegal act. The court set aside the EPA approval granted for this project and termed it unlawful and in violation of the environmental laws. While examining the vires of various provisions of the LDA Act 1975, the court declared that LDA has encroached on the powers of the local government in this case, which is unconstitutional. The court has explained the law on how to implement such projects, which come under the purview of the local government set-up and not the LDA or any other provincial government agency. In fact, the Punjab government has been working in an arbitrary style while sticking to a wrong set of priorities instead of focusing on real issues and festering civic problems. It seems that the executive authority of the provincial government considers itself above the law and has no respect for democratic norms and public opinion. The project is actually based on facilitating a small section of the population in Lahore who own vehicles. Instead of resolving the issue of the traffic mess on scientific lines, the Punjab government is obsessed with the idea of widening roads and building signal-free corridors at the cost of the environment by felling trees and encroaching upon walking space for pedestrians. It is high time that our aristocratic Punjab rulers mend their ways and obey the law. *