PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday ordered the attachment of the salary of the provincial sports and culture secretary and director for not complying with its orders in a case against the declaration of Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar’s ancestral house in the capital city national heritage.

The order was issued by a bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Mussarat Hilali over the non-filing of comments and non-appearance of the two respondents despite repeated notices over the last eight months.

The petitioner, Haji Lal Mohammad Khan, owner of the Mohallah Khudadad house, sought the court’s orders for the government to de-notify the imposition of the Section 4 of Land Acquisition Act, which was introduced by the previous provincial government to purchase the house.

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Lawyer for the petitioner Shahnawaz Khan said the then director culture moved a summary suggesting to abandon the proposed acquisition of the house.

The director said the condition of the five-marla house was so poor that it couldn’t be used for showcasing the belongings of legendary actor Dilip Kumar.

He said a large sum of money was needed to preserve the house. The director said when the government was no more interested in buying the house, the relevant notification should be withdrawn.

Lawyer Shahnawaz informed the bench that despite issuance of several notices, the respondents had yet to file response on the matter. The petitioner claimed he purchased the house from Mohammad Badshah and his wife, Saeeda Khatoon, for Rs515,000 on January 5, 2008.

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He said the house was initially in the ownership of Ghulam Mohiyuddin alias Gul Jee, who transferred the said property (deed No 123) on January 26, 1943, for Rs2,000 to Ghulam Sarwar, who was the father of Yousaf Khan, also known as Dilip Kumar.

The petitioner claimed that Ghulam Sarwar later transferred the property to Mohammad Yaqoob Qureshi on Jan 29, 1943, through an unregistered deed for Rs2,000.

According to him, the house came into the ownership of Mohammad Badshah from his father, Yaqoob Qureshi. On Jan 29, 1995, Badshah transferred two marlas of the house to his daughter and the remaining three marlas to his wife, Saeeda Khatoon, on April 4, 2005. The house was later sold to him (petitioner).

In 2012, on the 89th birthday of Dilip Kumar, the then provincial government, issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 regarding the house.

It initially agreed to pay Rs30 million to the petitioner for the house.

However, after various meetings with the attorney of the petitioner, the government then made an offer of Rs11.224 million, which was later increased to Rs14.246 million.

The petitioner claimed he declined the offer as the market value of the house was more than that.

He said though the land acquisition plan failed, the government didn’t formally end the process as suggested by the rules.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the government to cancel the house acquisition, recall the notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and release the property to the petitioner for use, sale, transfer, reconstruction and development.

Published in Dawn March 12th , 2015

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