RAWALPINDI: The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) on Thursday sealed the office of the Directorate of Education (Colleges), Rawalpindi Division, located on Murree Road.
In an operation conducted with the FIA and police, the ETPB reclaimed and sealed a five-kanal parcel of land valued at Rs1.5 billion.
According to ETPB Deputy Administrator Hassan Imtiaz, notices had previously been issued to the Directorate of Education. The directorate had chal-lenged the matter before the ETPB chairman, who subsequently ordered it to vacate the premises.
The Education Department’s Directorate of Colleges had been in illegal possession of the ETPB-owned property, despite Supreme Court directives to reclaim such properties. He said the action was a continuation of the operation against illegal occupants of ETPB land and that further properties in the city would also be reclaimed.
It may be mentioned here that the building previously housed the offices of the District Education Directorate (Rawalpindi) and the Directorate of Colleges.
Although the District Education Authority had vacated the building three months ago and relocated to a new facility near Saidpur Road, the Directorate of Colleges’ offices remained on the premises until the ETPB sealed the building.
On the other hand, Director Colleges Dr Shahnaz Mohsin stated that she assumed charge two months ago and received no notice from the ETPB during this period. She said the ETPB suddenly sealed the building despite a requestfor a brief extension.
She explained that the offices had been established there in the 1970s under an agreement between the ETPB and the Punjab Higher Education Department, for which the required payments had been made to the ETPB.