LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition against attribution of government buildings, parks, and hospitals to politicians, ruling elites and feudal lords.

Justice Shahid Karim dismissed the petition as not maintainable and observed that unnecessary litigation wastes the court’s time.

A citizen, Mashkoor Hussain, filed the petition alleging that Imam Bibi Maternity Hospital, Sialkot, which was named after the mother of national poet Dr Allama Iqbal, has been renamed after the late father of Defence Minister Khwaja Asif as Khwaja Safdar Hospital.

The petitioner’s counsel Nadeem Sarwar stated that the conduct of the provincial government and functionaries shows that the cities, towns, streets and all public institutions are treated as part of some undeclared kingdoms of local feudal and political lords.

He pleaded that naming and renaming the institutions, towns, cities, roads and streets is also part of their kingdom rule, which depicts the mindset of our politicians and ruling elites.

He argued that the public institutions and infrastructures are not the property of the government as they belong to all citizens. He says there is no logic in naming or renaming the public places after the politicians and others.

He asks the court to declare that naming, renaming any street, road, government institute, town, or city after the name of any individual having no positive social role, courage or exceptional dedication to service is illegal, unlawful against the basic rights of citizens of respective areas.

The petitioner also furnished a list of 23 public places, hospitals and schools named after different politicians, including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2024