LAHORE, Jan 28: A division bench of the Lahore High Court will take up on Thursday a petition against the Punjab government for encroaching a sizable area of the Chief Justice's House.

The LHC registrar filed the petition on the instructions of Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry. The Chief Justice's House at 11-Aikman Road in GOR-I was built over 52 kanals. Around 16 kanals of the premises have, over the years, been encroached upon by the Punjab government which has built three houses for its officers. Some of the land has been occupied by the servants of the government officers.

Justice Aslam Riaz Husain was the last chief justice who resided at the 11-Aikman Road till 1976. Since then the building had been under the control of the Punjab government which used to utilize the place for marriage and community functions.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry came to know about the extent of encroachments when he visited the place three months ago. Afterwards, the registrar wrote four letters to the additional chief secretary, asking him to get houses 26, 26-A, and 27 vacated from officers which were built on the land of the Chief Justice's House.

The registrar wrote two letters each in November and December last year. But the additional chief secretary did not respond. Justices Mian Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khan Khosa first took up the petition on Jan 12 and directed the advocate-general to submit the Punjab government's position in the case.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court office recorded the statements of the Punjab Board of Revenue officials who confirmed that the building was spread over an area of 52 kanals.

The record produced by the revenue department officials said that the history of the Chief Justice's House was incorporated in the Survey of India of 1944 and was taken from the Punjab government's Settlement Department's edition of the same year. This record also shows the area was 52 kanals. The LHC registrar submitted that he sought a judicial intervention after he has exhausted the administrative remedy to the problem.