LAHORE, Aug 16: An additional sessions judge extended till Aug 19 (Tuesday) the stay against the construction of a wall on the premises of the Forman Christian Colleg, as the relevant judicial record could not be produced in the court on Saturday.
During the last hearing, the court had directed the relevant people to produce the entire record of a suit pending with the civil court regarding the FC College’s possession. The court held that the decision about allowing the FC College sitting management to construct a wall could be taken only after examining the original record of the possession suit.
The court was informed on Saturday that the record could not be produced owing to the leave of the court staff concerned. After that the court extended the stay till next hearing with fresh directions to present the record.
The Lahore Church Council of the United Church alleged in the suit that the FC College sitting principal, Peter H Armacost, had ordered the construction of a wall on the college premises despite knowing that the 265-kanal college area had become disputed after the filing of the possession suit, which was pending for adjudication.
LCCUC counsel Waheed Anwar informed the court that he was going to file an application for the penalization of the respondent on contempt charges for “violating” the court orders. The local commission, he argued, had confirmed this fact in its report submitted to the court on the last hearing.
The LCCUC had claimed that the FC College’s ownership was transferred to it following the merger of all the Presbyterian Churches of North America with it in 1949. It continued to manage the FC College’s affairs till Oct 1, 1972, when it was nationalized and its possession was handed over to the Punjab government by the LCCUC in capacity of FCC’s owner and previous management.
However, after the issuance of a notification regarding the return of the nationalized schools and colleges along with their existing assets to their respective previous managements and owners, a scrutiny committee handed over the FC College to its sitting principal Peter H Armacost, who allegedly impersonated himself as the representative of defunct Presbyterian Church, USA.
The LCCUC claimed that, being the previous owner of the FC College, it deserved the right to run the college.