Mohatta Palace BoT seeks to be intervener in litigation

Says Sindh govt will file plea against making heritage site a medical college for girls

KARACHI:

After the Sindh High Court (SHC) decision to convert Mohatta Palace into a medical college for girls, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the cultural heritage site requested the court to allow it to be an intervenor to join the ongoing litigation.

"We honour the decision of the Hon'ble High Court but with due respect. The orders passed in the case will directly affect the interest of the Gallery. Government of Sindh through its Advocate General will be filing an appeal against the order and so shall the trustees," said the statement issued by Abdul Hamid Akhund who has been designated as a focal person by the Board of Trustees of the Mohatta Palace Museum.

The signed orders of the Court were issued last week following a legal battle between the heirs of Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah and Mohtarma Shirin Jinnah (both sisters of Quaid e Azam) on the immovable and movable properties and Mohatta Palace. With the consent of plaintiff and defendant, the court recently ordered to set up the medical college.

Akhund who happens to be one of the trustees in the statement referred to an agreement between Sindh government and relatives as well as legal heirs of Qauid's sisters and said,"Back in 1994, the Mohatta Palace Museum was purchased under the orders of the Hon'ble High Court of Sindh with the consent of all the parties in the case," he adding that the entire amount of Rs.61.8 million was deposited in SHC.

"It was a judicial sale and the Palace was handed over to the representatives of the federal and Sindh governments in the presence of the then Governor of Sindh," he said.

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He was of the view that soon after the entire amount was paid by the Government, the major share of the same coming form the Federal Government, the Mohatta Palace Gallery Trust was formed on the directives of the then prime minister Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. "The terms of the Trust were to ensure that the property cannot be sold, commercialized or used for any other purpose other then functioning as a Gallery/Museum/ Cultural Complex," he said.

Talking about the law Sindh government officers consent over establishing medical college Akhund said, "Additional Advocate General gave inadvertent consent for which he had no authority and without consulting the government and examining the record." He added that in this case neither the Federal Government, nor the Mohatta Palace Museum were impleaded or notice issued.

The statement highligting the importance of the building said, "Mohatta Palace Museum has contributed immensely to the promotion of Pakistan's Cultural Heritage and as an institution of international repute.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2021.