MULTAN: Police on Wednesday foiled an attempt to occupy two acres of state land.

As per details, 11 nominated and 25 unidentified people on Wednesday allegedly tried to occupy the building of Aligarh College located in Gulgasht Colony. Police reached the spot after being informed by Punjab Housing and Town Planning Authority (Phata) Deputy Director Younas Mughal. No case had been filed or anyone arrested till the filing of this report.

A two-acre plot had been reserved for a school when the housing scheme was established. The site was leased for 30 years to Aligarh Old Boys Association on Sept 29, 1962, while the possession of the plot handed over on Oct 10, 1963. Later, the school was upgraded to a girls college.

On expiry of the lease period in 1992, the college administration requested for an extension which was granted on April 19, 1993 for 20 years. Notices were issued to the association after this period also expired in 2012, but when the association did not reply, a cancellation notice was issued by the deputy director on Sept 7, 2012 against which the association filed a civil suit on Sept 20 that year. The court ruled in favour of the association.

The then district coordination officer brought the matter into the notice of housing secretary and recommended initiation of action against the allottee.

The allotee had also made changes to the land by constructing shops and demolishing the college boundary wall in front of the shops. The matter was brought to the notice of district attorney who advised on July 10, 2015 against taking action to demolish shops in the wake of the civil court order. But the shops were sealed on July 25 by the authorities concerned and a case of contempt of court filed by the allottee besides another petition for de-sealing of the shops, which was turned down by the court on July 29.

A civil revision was filed for the de-sealing of shops and then Phata assistant director Muhammad Rizwan had submitted a consenting statement without any authority/consent, upon which the court on Aug 17, 2015 set aside the trial court order. The shops were resultantly de-sealed.

On Feb 13 this year, the possession of the entire site was taken over from the allottee for defaulting, including not seeking extension in lease period, committing violations regarding change in land use and using state property without paying dues.

The same day, a first information report was lodged with Gulgasht police against the college administration, including nominated former PML-N MPA Maulvi Sultan Alam, Mansoor Alam, Tauqeer Subhani and Sarwar Khalil Samdani, on charges of embezzlement and cheating shopkeepers while claiming to be owners of the land.

On Wednesday, Mr Sultan Alam’s son Mansoor, Nadim Mushtaq, Sadaf, Saima, Rashid Rizvi, Jamshed, Tauqeer Subhani, Sarwar, Aslam, Arshad and Saeed along with 25 others allegedly tried to occupy the building, and were nominated in application submitted to police for lodging of a case.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2018