LAHORE, Aug 8: A senior civil judge on Friday restrained the sitting management of the Forman Christian College (FCC) from carrying out any construction work on college premises.

While issuing the orders on a suit filed by the Lahore Church Council of the United Church (LCCUC), the court issued notice to FCC Principal Peter Armacoast for Sept 3. “In the meanwhile, the respondent is restrained from raising any construction illegally or forcibly on the suit property without adopting the due course of law.”

The plaintiff counsel, Waheed Anwar, argued in the court that a civil court had already stayed the sale or transfer of the FCC in the name of any other party. The respondent had recently started constructing a wall on the college premises despite knowing this fact. He claimed that his client had approached Mr Armacoast and other members of the FCC management and requested them to refrain from carrying out the construction work till a decision on the pending suit, but to no avail.

He alleged that possession of the college was handed over by the education department to Mr Armacoast and the Presbyterian Church in violation of the rules as the sitting principal had presented the court with a fake power attorney, posing as a representative of the “defunct” Presbyterian Church of the US.

The LCCUC claims that the college should have been transferred in its name, as it was managing it prior to its nationalization in 1972.

Mr Anwar said Mr Armacoast did not have the authority to construct anything on FCC premises as the matter regarding its transfer was pending for adjudication. The 265-kanal college premises was a disputed property till a decision on the suit, he maintained.