LAYYAH, March 16: Police registered a criminal case against 14 land grabbers for illegally occupying 1.5 acres of precious urban land of MC High School that was donated by Bharatri trust around 130 years ago.

The case was registered on the directions of Additional District and Sessions Judge Malik Shabbir Awan who, in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court, made a surprise visit to the school on Saturday.

The district judiciary had launched a comprehensive drive to bust ghost schools, retrieve illegally grabbed school land by the illegal occupants on the directions of the CJP.

During his visit, the judge summoned Tehsildar Mehboob Ahmed and enquired about the status of the school’s state property, which had been illegally occupied by local traders.

Ahmed ensured the inspecting judge of submitting his report within 24 hours, but the judge also directed the school headmaster Ikhlaq Ahmed Baig to lodge a complaint with the city police to file a case against land grabbers.

On the headmaster’s complaint, the police registered a case under sections 447 and 448 of PPC against 14 traders.

Those who had been booked for illegal occupation of this century-old school land included Syed Ameer Hussain, Nasir Bashir, Ghulam Nabi, Muhammad Yousaf, Esap Khan, Sarfaraz Ansari, Chaudhry Hassan, Muhammad Bilal, Rafiullah, Aamir Bashir, Muhammad Sarwar, Habibullah and Ghulam Jaffar.