RAWALPINDI: The district and sessions court of Rawalpindi on Monday summoned the deputy administrator of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) for issuing an eviction notice to Sheikh Rashid Ahmed about Lal Haveli.

Sheikh Sadeeq, brother of Mr Ahmed, filed the petition seeking to restrain the ETPB from dispossessing them of Lal Haveli and a property adjacent to it.

Taking up the plea, Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Khursheed Alam Bhatti also summoned ETPB officials on October 18.

In its notice, the ETPB said Mr Ahmed and his brother Sheikh Sadeeq had lost the ‘legal possession’ of the property as they neither responded to the authority’s notice nor paid the arrears of rent.

The ETPB administration also warned that it would use the police force to get the property vacated in case of non-compliance within seven days.

In his petition, Mr Sadeeq contended that a petition on the matter had already been filed earlier and a notice issued to the respondent, the zonal administrator, for a temporary injunction - a court order that prohibits an action by a party to a lawsuit until there was a trial or other court action.

“It is settled law that when the matter is sub judice in the court of law and notice on stay application is issued to a public functionary, he is bound to show regard to the proceedings of the court and maintain status quo till the decision of application for a temporary injunction,” the petition said.

His counsel Barrister Shoaib Razzaq told the court that ETPB issued the notice in an already sub judice matter. He argued that the proceeding in the case was pending in the court.

According to him, the court would resume the pending proceeding on October 24.

He said the evacuation notice served on Mr Ahmed was an act of “political revenge”.

“The Evacuee Trust Property Board, under political pressure wants to launch an attack on Lal Haveli through police,” he claimed.

The lawyer contended that Lal Haveli was Mr Ahmed’s personal property.

Lal Haveli is the political office of the former minister. It’s an old building at Bohar Bazaar of Rawalpindi. The building was the property of a Hindu woman before the partition and converted into the political office in 1980 after Mr Ahmed entered parliamentary politics.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2022