Governor’s House: All will be in jail if single brick removed, says LHC

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday halted demolition of boundary wall of Punjab Governor’s House and warned that not a single brick should be removed from its place, otherwise everyone will be behind the bars.

Justice Mamoomur Rasheed Sheikh issued the stay order hearing a petition moved by a lawyer challenging the decision of the government to demolish the outer wall of the Governor’s House in the light of instructions by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

As the hearing commenced, petitioner’s counsel Ahsan Naveed Farooqi argued saying the prime minister ordered demolition of the Governor\s House boundary wall in a bid to make the colonial-era building visible to general public.

He said a day after the prime minister’s order, the government, in a hasty move, started demolishing the boundary wall of the Governor’s House on Sunday. He argued that the act was in gross violation of various sections of the Punjab Special Premises (Preservation), Ordinance, 1985 and the Antiquities Act, 1975.

He said as per previous orders of the Supreme Court, it was mandatory for the government to issue ads in newspapers before undertaking projects such as this. He said permission had also not been sought from the cabinet to tear down its boundary and it would waste taxpayers' money.

The counsel pleaded that the governor house had a cultural, architectural and historic significance and thereby protected under section 10 of the National Antiquities Act 1975 and section 5 of The Punjab Special Premises (Preservation) Ordinance 1985 respectively. He contended that the laws strictly prohibited destruction of special premises. Advocate Farooqi pointed out that the decision to demolish the boundary wall of the governor house raised several questions among the people of the city, who considered it as a heritage site. Moreover, he said a mandatory permission had not been sought from the provincial cabinet.

He further said that security measures had not been adopted/ considered by the government while erasing the wall of the Governor’s House as VIP monument will be exposed to risk after installing iron grill.

The counsel asked the court to restrain the government from demolishing the wall of the Governor’s House being an unlawful act. He also requested the court to order a legal action against those who instructed the demolition and involved in bulldozing the wall.

Justice Sheikh observed that he had been witnessing the wall of the Governor’s House since his childhood and asked under whose authority the facility falls. A provincial law officer told the court that the boundary wall of the governor house did not fall within the definition of the protected premises.

However, the judge restrained the government from carrying out demolition work on the Governor’s House’s wall and sought detailed replies from federal and provincial governments on legal questions raised in the petition.

"If anything is done against the court orders, no one will be spared," the judge warned. The LHC Registrar’s office will fix the next date of hearing.