ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government has offered alternative land to build a girls’ school in Gujranwala.
The school will be built on two different sites, said the Punjab chief secretary while appearing in front of the Supreme Court on Monday. A three-member bench was hearing a case pertaining to encroachment of the school land.
The provincial government has been ordered to build the school on two pieces of land. A school was being built on one land and the government has been asked to put the board of the girls’ school on it. The other land has been inundated by standing rain water. The petitioner raised concern over it and the court assured that the land will be cleared before the construction begins.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed said that if the verdict comes against the petitioners then they will not be given any land. “It’s better for you to take whatever you are getting.”
The government has two years to build the school and hand over its management to the relevant authority.
Taleem-e-Niswan Trust filed a petition in the court against the encroachment. Informal settlements were allowed on the land and they were regularised by the government too, according to the petition.
On Monday, the court came down hard on the government for regularising the encroachment on trust land.