LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday suspended a Punjab government notification regarding transfer of administrative control of historical tombs of Mughal emperor Jahangir and his wife empress Noor Jahan to the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA).

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza passed the stay order on petition moved by Irfan Ali, an official of the archaeology department.

The Punjab government had issued a notification which took administrative control of both monuments from the archaeology department and transferred the same to the WCLA for conservation, preservation and better tourism mechanism.

The petitioner through a counsel argued that the government after seeking approval from the chief minister transferred control of both tombs to the WCLA. He said the government ignored the fact that the provincial law secretary had opposed the move and gave an adverse opinion. He said both tombs did not fall under the territorial jurisdiction of the WCLA.

The counsel argued that both WCLA and archaeology department could not interfere in affairs of each other as both worked under different laws.

He asked the court to set aside the impugned notification under which both tombs were put under the control of WCLA.

Justice Mirza suspended the impugned notification and sought replies from the provincial government and director general of the WCLA by the next hearing.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2019