PESHAWAR, Nov 22: A two-member Bench of the Peshawar High Court here on Thursday accepted a writ petition and declared the occupation of a piece of land of a local businessman by the police illegal.

The bench, comprising Justice Malik Hamid Saeed and Justice Ijazul hassan, directed the police forthwith to end its occupation of the land and hand it over to the petitioner, Haji Lal Muhammad.

Haji Lal Muhammad, owner of Al-Mumtaz Hotel and some other concerns, has claimed that he had purchased a piece of land measuring 65 marlas from Police Welfare Trust at Dehri Baghbanan. He stated that he had constructed a building on the said land.

The petitioner claimed that during a visit to the city, the NWFP governor was misled by somebody and was told that the petitioner had illegally occupied the land.

He added that on the directives of the governor the City Development and Municipal Department (CD&MD) demolished the boundary wall of the building and the land was occupied by the police.

Advocate Abdul Sattar Khan appeared for the petitioner and produced documents pertaining to the sale of the said property.

He said that the particular piece land was legally purchased by the petitioner and he had not occupied it.

He added that the concerned authorities were ill-informed about the deal due to which the police occupied the land.