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| May 6, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1427 |
SC sets aside Punjab CM’s directive: Shops’ construction on college land
CHAKWAL, May 5: A three-member bench of Supreme Court on Friday set aside a directive of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi to construct 180 shops on the premises of Government Postgraduate College Chakwal.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, Justice Saeed Ashad and Justice Hamid Mirza, observed that land of educational institutions could not be used for commercial purposes.
The CJP took suo motu notice of the matter on an article written by eminent columnist Ayaz Amir, and some written applications seeking the apex court’s intervention to save the historic institution.
The district administration, DCO Chakwal, and the college administration had been summoned to appear before the full bench along with the relevant record.
Qazi Mohammad Amin Advocate, appearing on behalf of the district administration, contended that the income from the project was meant for promotion of education in the district.
Mansoor Shah Advocate, who appeared on behalf of Ayaz Amir, said the law of the land did not permit construction of shops on the premises of an educational institution.
Ayaz Amir also spoke on the occasion and contended that in every country, educational institutions were given a preference in all matters.
The CJP observed that the district government should protect the educational institution and that its arguments concerning construction of a market on college land were not convincing.
The case was disposed of after District Nazim Sardar Ghulam Abbas and DCO Dr Azam Saleem gave an undertaking to the court that the market project would be abandoned.
On the occasion, the college staff informed the court that the Tehsil Municipal Administration had demolished the boundary wall of the college for the construction of shops.
A formal report was also lodged with the Chakwal City Police Station by the principal, but no action was taken.
The CJP took a serious notice of it and directed the DCO to have the boundary wall constructed immediately.
The SHO of city police station was also directed to take action on the principal’s application against those TMA officials who were involved in demolishing the boundary wall.
Assistant Advocate General Afshan Ghazanfar also appeared before the court to assist the bench.
The postgraduate college was constructed by the people of Chakwal in 1949 on 305 kanals by utilising Rs200,000 received from the British government for the welfare of World War-II veterans of Chakwal city.
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