Land case: LHC gets title to land claimed by Auqaf Dept

Supreme Court dismisses appeal filed by Auqaf Department.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday got title to a piece of land on The Mall Road at GPO Chowk after the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Auqaf Department.

A law officer of the Auqaf Department had filed an appeal against an earlier ruling of a civil judge and an order of the LHC.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Jawad S Khwaja, dismissed the appeal while holding proceedings at the Lahore registry.

The dispute over the land had started when the LHC asked the department in March 2007 not to claim the ownership of the land.



When the department refused, the LHC filed a case before the senior Lahore civil judge through its registrar, seeking the ownership of the land. The case was submitted in the civil court on March 13, 2007. It was decided on July 12, 2007 in favour of the LHC. Judge Abdul Razzaq ruled that the land measuring seven kanals, five marlas and 135 square feet, situated on the northeast corner of the LHC on The Mall was owned by the state and belonged to the LHC.

The department filed an appeal before the Lahore additional sessions judge two days of the judgment. The Auqaf Department had submitted in the appeal that LHC had removed a fence and had built a wall at the boundary of the land towards the mosque. It stated that the water tube-well installed by the department was still in its possession.

Its counsel stated that the disputed land was a trust property gifted to the Shah Chiragh mosque under a notification issued on January 23, 1973. He said the land was in the department’s possession and that water tube-well notification had been issued in its name. He said all electricity connections at the disputed land had been also in the name of the department. He said the department had receipts of rent paid by lawyers who had used the place for functions. He said that the Lahore High Court Bar Association president had paid Rs5,000 to rent the place in 2006 for lawyers who had come from other cities to cast their votes for the elections of the Supreme Court Bar Association.



After the decision of the senior civil judge, the administration of the Lahore High Court in July 2007 took the possession of the land.

It is being used for parking purposes. A wall was built to separate the land from the building housing administrative offices of Auqaf Department.

Now after the judgment of the SC, the land has been given to the LHC.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2015.