ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The Supreme Court restrained the Defence Housing Authority, Lahore, on Wednesday from altering in any manner Sikh properties in its possession.

On a complaint that the site of a Gurudwara in Lahore had been appropriated for building a commercial plaza, the court ordered a temporary ban on altering Sikh properties.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry issued the order after turning a complaint filed by an official of the Pakistan Sikh Council into a suo motu case.

The stay order will halt all construction work on 544 kanals of land in Mouza Lidhar and 307 kanals of land in Motta Singhwala localities of Lahore.

Sardar Mastan Singh, president of the Nankana Sahib-based council, had alleged that the Gurudwara at Choona Mandi in Lahore had been razed to the ground to erect a plaza at the place.

Religious and trust properties left by the Sikh community after migration to India are managed by the Auqaf Department and under the law these cannot be used for any purpose other than for which they were originally intended.

The chief justice made it clear that it was a constitutional obligation to watch interests of the Sikh community for which there was great respect even if it did not get a proper assistance from the parties.

When it transpired during the hearing that certain members of the Sikh community, including Mastan Singh, were the signatory to a separate application seeking permission to withdraw their request to the Supreme Court to intervene since the matter had been settled, Mastan Singh pleaded that a majority of members of the Sikh community were under immense pressure from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) to give up the claim. But he came to know about the matter from a case pending in the Lahore High Court.

Senior counsel Hamid Khan, representing the ETPB, tried to convince the court that it was not a case of sale of land belonging to the Sikh minority to the DHA, but an exchange of property in lieu of 200 plots given to members of the Sikh community. These were actually agriculture land owned by the ETPB and exchanged after seeking prior approval of the federal government under some scheme, he argued and requested the court to issue notice to the DHA before deciding the matter.

But Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed observed that even members of the Sikh community had no right to dispose of the land and these properties would remain part of the Gurudwara. “It seems there is no-one to hold the ETPB accountable since the state has abdicated its responsibilities,” Justice Azmat observed.

Former chairman of the Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Sardar Sham Singh also appeared before the court, but only to defend ETPB Chairman Asif Hashmi.

The court issued notice to Attorney General Irfan Qadir with a direction to submit any notification issued by the federal government suggesting handing over of these properties to the DHA.

The court also observed that important constitutional questions relating to the rights of minorities were involved in the case which needed interpretation by the court.

The court stayed any transfer of the Gurudwara land pending adjudication of the case and adjourned the hearing for three weeks.