MIANWALI: Lawyers of the Mianwali District Bar Association with tehsil bars of Piplan and Isakhel boycotted courts on Wednesday in protest at the demolition of 14 lawyers` chambers in Isakhel by the highway department.

Lawyers said they had obtained a stay order against the demolition, whereas Kalabagh highway sub-division of ficer (SDO) Muhammad Shahid said the encroachments around the road had been demolished. He said as per the revenue record, these chambers fell in encroachments, and that he was unaware of any stay order by civil courts.

Lawyers of Isakhel said their chambers had been constructed three decades ago with the approval of then revenue of ficials.

A dispute over the chambers land arose in 1999 between the lawyers and the Provincial Highway Department. At that time, a highway SDO had conceded in a civil court that the chambers were not constructed on highway land. After the statement, the suit was withdrawn by lawyers.

Isakhel Tehsil Bar president Naimatullah Khan with former presidents Syed Raheem Shah and Tariq Alam Khan called the action `highhandedness of the tehsil administration and of ficers of the highway department` and added they would file damages suits against the officers.

They also demanded compensation from the Punjab government besides the provision of plots for the reconstruction of chambers.