 
 
 
 
 
 
|
|
|
|
07 January 2004
|
Wednesday
|
14 Ziqa'ad 1424
|
LHC orders status quo in favour of tenant: Farooq Abdullah's property
By Our Correspondent
LAHORE, Jan 6: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered status quo in favour of ex-MNA Akbar Ali Bhatti who is in possession of former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah's property on Mason Road.
Ejectment orders against Mr Bhatti, the tenant, were passed by the rent controller and later upheld by a sessions court. The 10-kanal building originally belonged to Dr Muhammad Abdullah, who gifted it to his wife Begum Akbar Jan, also known as Mir Jan Begum. The lady executed a power of attorney in favour of her son Dr Farooq on Oct 10, 1973, in England.
After the death of his mother, Farooq had reportedly executed a special power of attorney in favour of a friend from Lahore, Muhammad Khalid Dar, who used to collect the fixed rent of Rs15,000.
Mr Dar later filed an ejectment suit against Mr Bhatti, a former proprietor of an Urdu language newspaper now being published from the Jail Road, on the grounds that he was not paying the rent. The rent controller passed a decree against the tenant, who later filed an appeal against the order with a sessions court that also upheld the rent controller's order.
Subsequently, the tenant filed an appeal with the LHC through Khwaja Saeeduz Zafar, who contended that the special power of attorney which Mr Dar claimed to have been executed in his name by Farooq Abdullah on May 29, 1974, registered with Lahore's sub-registrar, was a forged document.
He pleaded that Mr Abdullah never came to Pakistan to execute the special power of attorney, adding even if Mr Dar had the power of attorney, it stood terminated after the death of Mir Jan Begum, who was the original proprietor and all the powers of attorney stood terminated upon her death.
Referring to the Defence of Pakistan Rules, the counsel submitted that its rule 170 prohibited making payments to a rival firm or person. Since Mr Abdullah was the subject of a rival country, any payments made to him were illegal and the person making such payments was liable to an imprisonment up to seven years.
|
