ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Thursday attempted to take possession of a farmhouse belonging to PPP-Workers leader Naheed Khan, located in the Chak Shahzad area.

However, after an exchange of arguments, the CDA team returned after Naheed Khan and her husband, Dr Safdar Abbasi, produced stay orders issued by a local court in their favour.

Recently, the CDA had sealed the farmhouse.

According to the CDA, the land was originally part of a nursery scheme and was allotted on a licence basis for a nursery in 1985 to Suraya Alchtar. In 1987, the CDA changed the land use from a nursery to an orchard.

When contacted, Dr Safdar Abbasi said the property had belonged to them since 1995. He said Naheed Khan`s mother purchased the property from Suraya Akhtar through a power of attorney duly registered with the revenue department in 1995.

Asked about the allotment letter, which stated that the plot was non-transferable, and how they had purchased it, Dr Abbasi said that when the plot was converted from a nursery to an orchard, the CDA signed a lease agreement with Suraya Alchtar in which it stated that the plot could be transferred with its consent.

Meanwhile, in the court of the Additional District Judge East, Islamabad, Naheed Khan, through her lawyer, pleaded that she was one of the legal heirs and coowners in possession of the orchard farmhouse, which was originally allotted in 1985, converted from a nursery plot to an orchard in 1987 and subsequently `transferred through a chain of registered transactions to the appellants` late mother, from whom the appellant and other legal heirs inherited the property.