LHC irked by claims over ETPB land

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan was irked Friday after it was transpired that the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) was a claimant of a piece of land of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), illegally occupied by the police.

“Now I understand as to why the Police Department had been reluctant to vacate that piece of land,” the chief justice said, as a provincial government application revealed litigation pending before a civil court on a suit of the DHA against the Elite Police Training School (EPTS).

The court was informed that a civil court had issued a stay order in favour of the DHA and that was why the possession of the land could not be given to the ETPB.

Expressing concern over the involvement of the DHA in the matter, the LHC CJ noted that the housing authority also faced a scam of plots allocated for the families of the martyrs. “It seems the police want to usurp the land in connivance with the DHA,” the chief justice remarked and added that no one was above the law. “You people are trying to grab the land meant for minorities,” the CJ reminded Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani and other government officials present in the court.

The law officer said the DHA claimed to have purchased the land from the ETPB; however, he said the police training school kept the possession for security reasons. He also presented a map of the land in question prepared by the office of the deputy commissioner. He said the deputy commissioner did not approve the exchange deed between the ETPB and the EPTS.

CJ Khan pointed out that the ETPB land could not be sold or purchased but only leased out for the purpose of earning. The government’s application revealed that a retired major Sanaullah, then in-charge monitoring of the EPTS in 2003, which was also agreed by the ETPB, exchanged the land in question.

Chief Justice Khan directed the IGP to furnish names of those who held the offices of the provincial police chief, CCPO and commandant of the police training school when the land was purchased for the school.

The IGP was also directed to seek help from the secretary defence and trace the whereabouts of the retired major. The CJ also directed the law officer to assist the court on the next hearing as to under what offence the Police Department could be charged for occupying the land of the minorities.

Earlier, Anti-Corruption Establishment Director General Gohar Nafees told the court that his organisation lacked jurisdiction in the matter since the ETPB was a federal institution. The hearing was adjourned for Jan 21.