Lahore: 15,000 plants face destruction in MTS

[Naveed Yaseen]

A CIVIL court has issued a contempt of court notice to the Model Town Society (MTS) for forcibly occupying one of the oldest nurseries of the country with an aim to replace it with a commercial venture.

Following the MTS action, more than 15,000 different species of local as well as imported plants in the nursery are facing destruction because the MTS sealed the nursery with barbed wires and deputed security personnel to prevent entry into the area. During the last 10 days, even the leaseholders were not allowed to enter the nursery to water or fertilise the plants due to which many sensitive plant species had already withered away.

The Mian Brothers Nursery, established by late Mian Bilal Ahmed in 1945, is situated just at the entrance to the MTS. It could be termed one of the oldest nurseries of the country, which were in operation before partition. Mian Bilal was considered as the one of the first people who brought different species of plants from Europe and the Far East in the country. In 1968, he brought Fish Tail Palms and other varieties of plants in his nursery and planted them in his nursery to get saplings.

Presently, the nursery is giving a look of a no-go area as the MTS has erected barbed wire fences at the main and side entrances to the nursery while the security personnel are seen sitting inside it while displaying their weapons. A number of cartons, seed boxes and other items were thrown MTS armed personnel on the Ferozpur Road on Oct 19, 2008.

Mian Sarfraz Ahmed, son of late Mian Bilal Ahmed said his father died in 2005 after which he and his brother were taking care of the nursery and running their family business. He said in 2004, the MTS first raised the issue of cancellation of the lease agreement, which his father challenged in the court and got a stay.

ìThe court order is still valid today and the MTS has failed to get the stay order vacated because it has no ground,î he said, adding the case was still pending in the court and instead of fighting the legal battle, the MTS used to issue them threats.

Mian Sarfraz said on Oct 19, the head of MTS’s Engineering Wing Khalid Bhatti and MTS Security Incharge DSP (Retd) Saleem, along with a police vehicle and personnel of the MTS staff, stormed into the nursery, ransacked the office and threw out valuables, including office furniture, seed boxes and fertilizers worth over Rs300,000, on the main road.

ìWhen we asked them the reason for the illegal action, DSP (retd) Saleem and Khalid Bhatti said they were under immense pressure of MTS President Col (Retd) Kardar who wanted the issue to be resolved immediately,î Mian Ibrar Ahmed, the second son Mian Bilal said, claiming that the MTS did not show them any court orders or served them a notice of cancellation of the lease prior to the action.

Mian Sarfraz said after the ‘action’ of the MTS, he immediately moved to the court, which issued a contempt of court notice to the MTS security incharge and other senior officials for violating the earlier court orders. He said he got a stay order in 2007 in which the court had stopped the MTS from dispossessing the lease owner of the place. He said he also requested the court to issue a clear order regarding the earlier stay, on which the court issued a clear order on Oct 28, which said that from the perusal of the record revealed that on Feb 2,2007, while recording the interim order, an ad-interim injunction was issued, restraining the respondents from dispossessing the petitioners from the suit property till the next hearing of the case. He said the court order further revealed that the said ad-interim injunction was still operative and intact and not considered to have been vacated and in continuation of order dated 02-02-2007 and defendants were restrained from dispossessing the petitioners from the property in question.

Meanwhile, Mian Ibrar also wrote letters to Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif and the Punjab chief secretary to look into the illegal action of the MTS. He said he and his brother were fighting the legal battle and the MTS should fight its case in the court instead of violating the laws of the land.

When contacted, MTS President Col (retd) Tahir Kardar said the nursery was the property of the MTS and it had every right to get possession of its land. He said the nursery land was leased to Mian brothers but they had not been paying the lease amount for the last five years.

ìThe MTS has given ample time to the leaseholders to pay the amount but they failed, on which the MTS got possession of the nursery,î he said, adding that the MTS had also offered the leaseholders to get a 4-kanal-plot from the MTS to establish a new nursery, which they agreed to but instead of shifting of plants, they went to the court and got a stay. He said in the stay order, the court abstained the MTS from disconnecting electricity and water to the nursery and it did not stop the society from taking possession of the land.

Kardar said the land of the nursery was leased at Rs 3,000 per year but the MTS increased the per year land rent to Rs 12,000 per kanal, which the other nurseries were paying to the MTS. He said there were 14 nurseries in the housing society, which had brought all of them together by giving 4-kanal-land to each of them at one place. He said the said nursery was situated at a very attractive place and the MTS, in its meeting, had decided to use the land for constructing a big shopping mall with multinational restaurants and stores of international standard.

Answering a question about destruction of plants in the nursery, Col (retd) Kardar claimed that he would not allow the leaseholders to go in and take care of the plants, adding that he two gardeners had been deputed to look after the plants. The Punjab government or the City District Government Lahore did not give any financial help to the MTS and it had to run its affairs from its own resources, he said, adding that the society had rented out land to petrol pumps, nurseries, etc for earning revenue.

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