Daily Times

The Supreme Court, on Friday, slammed the Punjab government for failure to regularise encroachments upon a girls school in Gujranwala.

A three-member bench heard the case where Justice Qazi Faez Essa asked the chief secretary if he could resolve any problem other than making big claims on media every day. He then reproached the government for failing to provide land for the school.

The SC judge remarked, “(If) a chief secretary could not resolve a minor problem, how is he running a province?”

He further questioned, “Thirteen years were not enough for you to resolve the matter?”

Justice Gulzar observed that a meaningless paper had been submitted to the court.

He added, “The court will be compelled to take a decision if the government fails to do so.”

“Why is the government giving us a lollypop?” the judge asked.

Justice Gulzar further added that the matter was not in the power of the chief secretary and someone else would have to come to decide.

Earlier, the top court had given the provincial chief secretary one day to resolve the matter on Thursday.

It had warned the secretary to “resolve the issue or face the consequences.”

As the hearing went underway, the bench was told that the government was ready to provide an alternate piece of land for the school.

Justice Gulzar asked that since the school was on the land of trust in the centre of the city, how could a trust property be turned into a Katchi Abadi?

Termine the regularization of trust land as unlawful, the bench wondered what had the government done against the officers involved in an illegal act.

“Why was the Katchi Abadi not transferred to some other place? How will kids go 13 kilometres away?” Justice Gulzar questioned.