HYDERABAD, Nov 17: Dis-trict Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil has made it clear that the Ladies Club of Hyderabad was not the property of the Evacuee Property Trust Board (EPTB).

He was speaking at a meeting with officers of the revenue department in his office on Thursday to discuss the matter of the club’s ownership.

He has said that the club was the property of the revenue department.

The nazim said that from verification of the revenue record it was revealed that the area of the Ladies Club was owned by municipality and showed in record as ‘municipal open space’.

Subsequently the same area was reserved for the revenue department vide a collector order, dated August 20, 1932, he said.

Thereafter, the collector granted the area to the (Nari Sabha) Ladies Club through its secretary, Thakuri Valiram Lakhani, on 99 years lease from 1939.

Mr Jamil said that the Ladies Club was not an evacuee property even if its chairman or secretary or any other member belonged to the Hindu community.

The government of Sindh culture and tourism department in the year 2000 had declared the Ladies Club as a cultural protected heritage under the Sindh cultural heritage (preservation) act 1994, he said.

Therefore, any interference or destruction of the protected property was liable for legal proceedings, the nazim added.