RAWALPINDI: A local court on Tuesday restrained the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) from taking over Rawalpindi’s historic Lal Haveli.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Khursheed Alam Bhatti on the petition of Sheikh Rashid and his brother Sheikh Siddique restrained the ETPB from adopting coercive measures “to get implemented the order dated October 12, 2022 passed by respondent department” till the petitioner would file an appeal against the order at an appropriate forum.

Sardar Abdul Raziq, the counsel for the petitioners, adopted before the court that ETPB had ordered his clients to evict Lal Haveli and warned use of force if the property was not handed over voluntarily.

He accused the ETPB of misusing its authority since the matter was already sub judice in the appropriate forum.

ETPB’s counsel, on the other hand, argued that the trust had decided to take over the possession of the property under Section 16 of the Evacuee Trust Property Act.

In its notice, the ETPB stated that former interior minister Sheikh Rashid and his brother Sheikh Siddique had lost the ‘legal possession’ of the property as they neither responded to the authority’s notice nor paid the arrears of rent.

The court perused the record and observed that Siddique was the owner and in possession of property D-158 situated at Bohar Bazaar, Rawalpindi, through a registered sale deed.

The judge noted that on Nov 21, 2014, the ETPB had issued an eviction order which was challenged before the court. As per the court order, the action of public functionaries should be as per law and “there should be no reflection of mala fide” in their orders.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2022