LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on Thursday took exception to non-compliance of an order by police regarding retrieval of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) land from illegal possession by police and summoned senior officials of the department and the government.

The chief justice had on Dec 16, 2020, sought a compliance report after Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani submitted an undertaking to evacuate the 72 kanal land of the ETPB that was in possession of his department.

Several petitioners had contended through a counsel that the Punjab Police had requested the ETPB in 2001 to let it construct the Elite Police Training School on the 72 kanal and seven marla land. Police had offered the ETPB land of the same size but in scattered form on three different points. The board materialised the land deal in 2011 and later leased out the land it had got in exchange to the petitioners and others individuals.

However, the counsel said, the police once again took over the land in 2020 and deprived the petitioners of their lawful possession granted by the ETPB. He said the police had been harassing the petitioners through the personnel of the special branch.

On Thursday, Advocate Asif Awan appeared on behalf of the petitioners to plead a contempt petition, saying the police had not complied with the court’s order.

On the other side, the police department filed a civil miscellaneous application for the ‘clarification’ of the Dec 16 order, which irked the chief justice.

Chief Justice Khan observed that he did not want to abolish basic structure of the Elite Police rather wanted to save the billions of rupees invested in terms of the training school. He warned of criminal cases against all those responsible for the non-compliance of the court’s order.

“They will be sent to jail from the court,” the CJ said and summoned additional secretary home, IGP and director general of the Anti-Corruption Establishment on Friday (today).

LAND GRAB CASE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday suspended operation of an order issued by the deputy commissioner for the detention of alleged land grabber Mansha Bamm.

The deputy commissioner had issued the impugned order under section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) for a 90-day detention of Mansha on a charge of creating a law and order situation.

Mansha challenged his detention order through a writ petition.

Advocate Farhad Ali Shah appeared on behalf of the petitioner and contended that his client was not involved in any illegal activities. He pointed out that his client was condemned unheard as DC did not offer an opportunity of personal hearing to Mansha before issuing the detention order. He asked the court to set aside the detention order for being illegal.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2021