Lahore,The Lahore High Court on Thursday ordered Punjab government to maintain status quo in a matter pertaining to sale of a Gurdwara’s land to Defence Housing Authority by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB).
The Sikh Welfare Council’s representative Gulab Singh had filed a petition against the sale of 230 kanal land of the Gurdwara Bibi Nanki in Lahore Cantonment.The petitioner contended that a huge portion of land situated in Mota Singh village, Lahore Cantonment, was an evacuee trust property and attached to the Gurdwara.He said being the trust property it should be preserved but, the ETPB sold it out to the DHA.He said that he had approached the ETPB with a request that the property should not be sold and be transferred to the Gurdwara for its expansion, but to no avail.
The petitioner said the respondent (board) was custodian of the trust property and could not dispose it of except under exceptional circumstances.He said the sale was in sheer violation of Evacuee Trust Property (Management) Act 1975. He pointed out that the Supreme Court had taken a suo motu notice of the matter and an LHC bench also restrained the ETPB from selling the subject land.A law officer told the court that the Punjab government was retrieving the land from the DHA.On the other side, the DHA counsel stated the court had already restrained the government from getting the land back from the authority.
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