PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Wednesday allowed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to continue to use Governor’s House, Nathiagali, whose control was taken over by the provincial government in 2022, till further order.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal issued notices to federal and KP governments, seeking their response to a petition filed by the governor through his principal secretary, challenging the government’s decision to take over control of the over a century old Governor’s House in Nathiagali and taking steps to outsource the same for commercial purposes.

The petitioner requested the court to declare as unconstitutional and void the impugned actions of the respondents including KP government, and all actions, acts and deeds purportedly in the guise of KP Government Rest Houses and Tourism Properties Act, 2020, to the extent of authorising the transfer or commercialisation of the Governor’s House, Nathiagali, and all subsequent administrative decisions and related notifications.

The petitioner sought directives of the court for the government to immediately restore the administrative and physical control and possession of the said Governor’s House to Governor’s House, Peshawar, in accordance with its constitutionally recognised status as an official residence under the Governor’s Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Order, 1975.

Takeover of the property by KP govt has been challenged in court

He requested the court to restrain the respondents from taking any further step towards the commercialisation, alienation or unauthorised repurposing of the said Governor’s House or any other official residence of the governor protected by federal law.

The respondents in the petition are KP government through its chief secretary, secretaries of establishment and administration and tourism, culture and sports departments, federal secretary cabinet division and chairman of technical committee for outsourcing of government rest houses.

Advocate Shumail Ahmad Butt and Sheraz Butt appeared for the petitioner and stated that the governor had been appointed under Article 101 of the Constitution, which also provided that a governor should be entitled to such salary, allowances and privileges as the president may determine.

They said that section 7 of the Governor’s Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Order, 1975, made the governor lawfully entitled to utilise official residences enumerated in the First Schedule of the said order. They added that those residences included not only the Governor’s House Peshawar but also the Governor’s House, Nathia Gali.

Shumail Butt stated that in recent years, provincial government had made repeated attempts to unlawfully assert administrative control over the Governor’s House, Nathiagali.

In this drive, he said, in 2019 the said Governor’s House was attempted to be taken over under the KP Government Rest Houses and Tourism Properties Act, 2020, with ostensible intent to open it for public bookings and commercial accommodation under the guise of promoting tourism.

He stated that a meeting was held on June 20, 2019, under the chairmanship of the then prime minister, which decided to transfer administrative control of the Governor’s House to the administration department without any available legal framework.

The counsel stated that subsequently the provincial cabinet meeting was held on Nov 10, 2020, which gave approval of formal transfer of the Governor’s House, Nathiagali, from the administration to the tourism department under the tourism properties law.

He said in the light of the said decision, the administrative control of the Governor’s House was formally handed over to tourism department on Apr 29, 2022.

Mr Shumail claimed that it was a matter of record that the said building placed under the control of tourism department had suffered from poor maintenance and remained in a state of disrepair.

He said that as the tourism department failed to outsource the property, it moved a summary in June 2022 to chief minister, recommending that the premises may be returned to the administration department for proper maintenance and management in the larger public interest.

He said that tourism department had admitted in the summary that Governor’s House, Nathia Gali, held immense historical, architectural and heritage value. He added that the summary received approval of the cabinet.

The counsel referred to several efforts made by Governor’s Secretariat, seeking restoration of control over the said Governor’s House.

He argued that the KP government had acted against the Constitution by unilaterally asserting administrative control over, and attempting to commercialise the Governor’s House, which was an official residence of the governor.

He said that the action constituted a direct encroachment upon the domain of a federal institution and was in clear violation of Article 101 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2025