Petitioner requested the court to restrain the government from demolishing the remaining portions of Lakshmi Mansion PHOTO:FILE
Lahore High Court Justice Ayesha A Malik on Wednesday sought a response from the city government to apprise the court about the historic importance and significance of Lakshmi Mansion.
The building, situated between Beadon Road and Hall Road, has been partially demolished, the petition says.
Petitioner Arif Karim submitted that the government had demolished a portion of the mansion for commercialisation and was planning demolition of the entire building. He said that the city district government had earlier, under the Dilkash Lahore project, decided to preserve Lakshmi Mansion and other buildings of historic value but the decision had not been implemented.
He said that the government was planning to demolish the building to please Hall Road Traders’ Union president Babar Mahmood.
He said historic buildings were national heritage and the government must preserve them. He requested the court to restrain the government from demolishing the remaining portions of Lakshmi Mansion and order it to preserve the building, where, among others, Saadat Hasan Manto had lived. The counsel for the city government submitted that the demolished building was not a part of Lakshmi mansion but a privately owned house. He said the owner of a house wanting to demolish it and build a new structure could not be stopped.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2013.
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