LAHORE, Nov 5: The Lahore High Court writ branch’s main record room was partially destroyed when it caught fire, on Wednesday afternoon.It is learnt that some files of the settled cases were also destroyed.

Punjab Advocate-General Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, when talked about the incident, told Dawn that he was busy with his work at the Civil Secretariat when he was informed about the fire.

The AG, whose office is in the same block which caught fire, claimed, “it is too early to blame someone for the incident or term it an act of sabotage.”

“It will not affect the litigation in the current cases, as all the burnt files pertained to the decided cases, he said, and added that the record of the cases in process was kept in other blocks. He, however, said an inquiry into the incident would make the picture clear.

LHC Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry has reportedly ordered an inquiry into the incident.

The litigants and lawyers present there saw flames and smoke emitting from the record room in the basement of the block. They ran in a panic, shouting that someone had put the building on fire.

Initially, four fire fighting teams reached the site and these were joined by as many more. Police contingents, bomb disposal squad and civil defence team also rushed to the site.

The agencies joined the LHC staff in sifting the record. They shifted the intact record to the other blocks.

The fire fighters took two hours in controlling flames, but smoke could be seen emitting from the record room till late in the evening.

APP adds fire fighting teams’ in-charge Malik Muhammad Ashraf suffered burns during the operation and he was taken to hospital for treatment.