HYDERABAD: Hyderabad civil administration has issued a notice to management of a private school asking it to remove encroachment from the premises of Red Crescent building within three days in compliance with Nov 21 order of Anti-Encroachment Tribunal.

Deputy Commissioner Zain Ul Abideen Memon told Dawn on Sunday the school’s principal and owner, retired wing commander Q. Mohammad Hakam, refused to receive the notice and it was thence pasted on outer wall of the school premises.

Mr Hakam, a former councilor of Muttahida Qaumi Movement and presently a divisional office bearer of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf, is not responding to the reporter’s calls and messages seeking his comments on the issue.

The DC, who was also chairman of Hilal-e-Ahmer (Red Crescent) Hyderabad, said that the school management was required to remove the encroachment from the land that did not belong to Red Crescent of which the school was a tenant. The school had closed a street, he said.

He said that the piece of land primarily belonged to Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. It was given to Red Crescent Society for welfare purposes but it sublet it to the private school for commercial purposes, he said.

“In view of the tribunal’s order the school that had been working for three decades doesn’t have any legal cover because HMC had given the property to Red Crescent Society which unauthorizedly sublet it to the school,” he said.

The DC disclosed that Red Crescent management expressed ignorance of how the premises had been rented out to the school.

The encroachment had closed a public street, which as per record connected Miran Mohammad Shah Road with Risala Road, whereas the rest of the premises belonged to HMC, he said, adding it was the HMC now to take decision about its property.

Ghulam Sarwar Qureshi, one of the applicants in the suit decided on Nov 21 by the tribunal, stated in the case the school management had closed the street which had been in use of general public since pre-partition era. It was illegally allotted to District Red Crescent Hyderabad by then Municipal Committee Hyderabad (now HMC) in 1962, he added.

Mr Qureshi, a former HMC councilor, had initially filed the case in Sindh High Court Hyderabad circuit bench in 2019 which had directed him to file a suit in the tribunal in December 2022.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024