Model Town: No membership sans undisputed land title, says LHC
Court disposes of petition on plot purchased by judge.
PHOTO: LHC.GOV.PK
LAHORE:
Justice Ijazul Ahsan of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday disposed of a petition challenging listing of an LHC judge as member of the Model Town Cooperative Housing Society (MTCHS), saying that membership should not be awarded till the dispute over a plot was resolved on an appropriate forum.
The judge ruled that neither possession nor membership be disturbed till a court decided on the matter.
The judge was hearing a petition by Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar and others. At a previous hearing, the court had stayed the process of listing the LHC judge as member of the MTCHS.
The petitioners submitted that they were legal heirs of the late Shehzadi Badshah Begum who, being a refugee claimant, had been allotted an eight-kanal bungalow on November 18, 1959.
They said they were owners in possession of the property. They said that according to society bylaws, no transaction regarding sale or purchase of the property could be made without obtaining a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the society.
They said any person possessing a property in Model Town was required to be its member.
They said that Kamran Sarfraz, a land grabber, had forged a sale deed for two kanals of the property. They said that on June 25, 2014, Sarfraz had sold the land to Justice Abdul Sami Khan for Rs6 million per kanal.
On September 9, 2014, Justice Khan requested the MTCHS to give him membership of the society. He said the MTCHS had replied to the judge that the seller of the land was not the actual owner of the land. Therefore, they could not grant him membership. They said on February 26, 2015, the circle registrar had directed the society to list Justice Khan as a member.
He said the circle registrar had no authority to pass such an order. He accused the circle registrar of pressuring the society into cancelling the petitioners’ membership. He requested the court to declare the circle registrar’s order unlawful. After hearing the arguments, Justice Ahsan declared the order illegal. He said if the parties had a dispute over ownership, they should settle the matter in a court.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2015.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan of Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday disposed of a petition challenging listing of an LHC judge as member of the Model Town Cooperative Housing Society (MTCHS), saying that membership should not be awarded till the dispute over a plot was resolved on an appropriate forum.
The judge ruled that neither possession nor membership be disturbed till a court decided on the matter.
The judge was hearing a petition by Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar and others. At a previous hearing, the court had stayed the process of listing the LHC judge as member of the MTCHS.
The petitioners submitted that they were legal heirs of the late Shehzadi Badshah Begum who, being a refugee claimant, had been allotted an eight-kanal bungalow on November 18, 1959.
They said they were owners in possession of the property. They said that according to society bylaws, no transaction regarding sale or purchase of the property could be made without obtaining a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the society.
They said any person possessing a property in Model Town was required to be its member.
They said that Kamran Sarfraz, a land grabber, had forged a sale deed for two kanals of the property. They said that on June 25, 2014, Sarfraz had sold the land to Justice Abdul Sami Khan for Rs6 million per kanal.
On September 9, 2014, Justice Khan requested the MTCHS to give him membership of the society. He said the MTCHS had replied to the judge that the seller of the land was not the actual owner of the land. Therefore, they could not grant him membership. They said on February 26, 2015, the circle registrar had directed the society to list Justice Khan as a member.
He said the circle registrar had no authority to pass such an order. He accused the circle registrar of pressuring the society into cancelling the petitioners’ membership. He requested the court to declare the circle registrar’s order unlawful. After hearing the arguments, Justice Ahsan declared the order illegal. He said if the parties had a dispute over ownership, they should settle the matter in a court.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2015.