The dispute over the building in Peshawar though to be the ancestral home of veteran actor Dilip Kumar took a new turn on Wednesday as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government told the Peshawar High Court that it had dropped the plan to acquire the property. The government, however, declared the house "protected antiquity", which means that the owner cannot renovate or make alterations to the property and it is mandatory for him to preserve it.
There have been contradictory claims about the historical significance of the Peshawar property. There was one claim that Dilip Kumar had spent his childhood in the house. But the current owner, Haji Lal Mohammad Khan, argued in court that the records show the actor was born in 1922 and his father had bought the property only in in 1943. Khan also claimed that the house could not be called Dilip Kumar’s ancestral property as the actor's father had sold it within three days of purchase.
Khan asked the court to allow him to sell, transfer, reconstruct or develop the property. His lawyer said that the five-storey building located in Mohallah Khudadad near Qissa Khwani was in dilapidated condition and could collapse at any time.
Following the government's declaration on Wednesday, the bench disposed of Khan's petition. He had requested the court to order the scrapping of the previous provincial government's move to purchase the house in 2012. A day earlier, the bench had asked the provincial government to clarify whether it was interested in acquiring the house.
The property owner's counsel said that before the move to make the structure a "protective antiquity", the archaeology department had the right to acquire the building when the owner had put it up for sale. The counsel said that on November 30, 2012, the previous provincial government had sought to acquire the property.
The owner's counsel said that initially, the government had agreed to pay 30 million Pakistani rupees to the petitioner for the house. But after meetings with the attorney of the owner, the government then made an offer of 11.224 million Pakistan rupees which was then raised to 14.246 million rupees.
This article was originally published on Dawn.com.
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There have been contradictory claims about the historical significance of the Peshawar property. There was one claim that Dilip Kumar had spent his childhood in the house. But the current owner, Haji Lal Mohammad Khan, argued in court that the records show the actor was born in 1922 and his father had bought the property only in in 1943. Khan also claimed that the house could not be called Dilip Kumar’s ancestral property as the actor's father had sold it within three days of purchase.
Khan asked the court to allow him to sell, transfer, reconstruct or develop the property. His lawyer said that the five-storey building located in Mohallah Khudadad near Qissa Khwani was in dilapidated condition and could collapse at any time.
Following the government's declaration on Wednesday, the bench disposed of Khan's petition. He had requested the court to order the scrapping of the previous provincial government's move to purchase the house in 2012. A day earlier, the bench had asked the provincial government to clarify whether it was interested in acquiring the house.
The property owner's counsel said that before the move to make the structure a "protective antiquity", the archaeology department had the right to acquire the building when the owner had put it up for sale. The counsel said that on November 30, 2012, the previous provincial government had sought to acquire the property.
The owner's counsel said that initially, the government had agreed to pay 30 million Pakistani rupees to the petitioner for the house. But after meetings with the attorney of the owner, the government then made an offer of 11.224 million Pakistan rupees which was then raised to 14.246 million rupees.
This article was originally published on Dawn.com.