PESHAWAR, Dec 19: A civil court on Friday decreed in favour of the Abaseen Arts Council, declaring the NWFP governor’s order about the Nishtar Hall’s management illegal.

The decree was issued by senior civil judge Muneeza Abbasi.

The legal battle between the arts council and the provincial government has been going on over a decade since a notification was issued by the then governor on March 30, 1992, directing the council to hand over control of Nishtar Hall, the biggest concert hall here, to the Sarhad Arts Council, which was run by the government.

 The council’s honorary secretary, Abdul Rauf Rohaila, appeared on behalf of the plaintiff contending that the NWFP governor’s order was against the law.

The court, which decided the case few days ago, released its detailed judgment on Friday observing that the possession and control of the Nishtar Hall should now be handed over to the arts council.

It was learnt that the Abaseen Arts Council was established in 1955 by Mussarat Hussain Zuberi, the then commissioner of the Peshawar Division.

The plaintiff contended that since its establishment, the council had been rendering extensive services in cultural and other allied activities.

The council was previously housed in a bungalow and subsequently the provincial government allotted a portion of a plot near Peshawar Museum, where an auditorium was constructed. However, it was felt that due to nearby railway track, the building of the auditorium was vulnerable to heavy railway traffic. The then governor, Lt Gen Fazle Haq directed the IG Prison to hand over an open plot, belonging to the Prison Department, to the AAC for the construction of an auditorium, subsequently named as Nishtar Hall.

The then governor provided a grant-in-aid amounting to Rs8 million, which was accordingly invested. Subsequently, on the direction of the then governor, the amount, along with its profit, was paid to the Peshawar Development Authority, which completed the building in 1986.

Later, the Abaseen Arts Council started functioning in the building but after the replacement of the governor, a summary was put to the NWFP governor and a notification was issued on March 30, 1992, directing the AAC to hand over the management to Sarhad Arts Council.

Aggrieved by the notification, a suit was filed by the Abaseen Arts Council. After recording evidence in the case, which took almost 11 years, the plaintiff’s counsel argued that the building in question was constructed on the funds of the council and according to Rules of Business, the province’s governor could issue a notification for transferring the management control of a building or property of one department to another department.