PESHAWAR: A local accountability court on Monday confirmed the sealing of a restaurant and a café set up on a portion of the University Town Club by two people in line with a controversiallease deal.

The National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had sealed Dewan-i-Khas restaurant and Coffee Pot café on Oct 2 on the order of its director general insisting their establishment was illegal.

The controversial club lease deed of the University Town Club commonly known as the Ladies Club has been pending with the Peshawar High Court for over two years.

The case will be heard by the court on Oct 16.

During Monday hearing, NAB special prosecutor Lajbar Khan told judge Ibrahim Khan that under the Accountability Bureau Ordinance 1999, the order issued by the director general regarding the sealing of a property had to be referred to the accountability court in the next14 days for confirmation.

He said NAB had received a complaint regarding illegal lease of land in the Ladies Club situated in a posh residential area of the University Town.

The NAB special prosecutor said his organisation`s had found out during an inquiry that on the directives of the relevant high-ups, the Town-HI, Peshawar`s administration advertised in newspapers that it intended to improve sports facilities in the Ladies Club on Built-Operate-Transfer basis.

He said instead of granting approval on BOT basis in line with the advertisement, the approving authority illegally granted 33 years lease of the club`s land to two people by misusing its authority in sheer violation of the law, rules and regulations.

The controversy over the leasing of the land had surfaced around two years ago when several University Town residents, including Dr Fazal Mugeem Khilji and scores of women, filed a writ petition with the court against the Town administration`s move.

The petitioners contended the Town Club comprised the Ladies Club, tennis and squash courts, walking track and green belt and that in 2009, the Town administration leased out 14 kanals of land of the club to Faiz Rasool and Tariq Nawaz, front men of a local influential political family.

However, the lessees insisted they were given the land in a legal and transparent manner as the land`s leasing out was properly advertised in the newspapers.