The Education department of the defunct City District Government Karachi (CDGK) is not taking any serious measures to protect a school building from being occupied by a person, a ‘fake owner’, who has claimed that the schools is his property and thus be handed over to him, The News has learnt.

The building in fact hosts a couple of schools, Dastagir Public Government Boys Primary School (GBPS) and Muslim GBPS, located in Federal B. Area, Gulberg Town, which are running in the said building in morning and evening shifts respectively.

Sources told The News that a person, Misbah Mehmood Kidwae, has claimed the ownership of the said building, showing “photo-copied” documents to prove his claim. The documents, which are not readable due to their poor quality, are not genuine, the sources disclosed. It is also interesting to note here that according to the records available with the Education department, Dastagir Public GBPS.

Which was nationalised under Martial Law Regulation 118, on October 01, 1972, Hajra Begum, wife of Syed Manzoor Hussain (Late), was the owner of the school building.

Kidwae had written a letter to the department in the recent past, claiming the ownership of the building and demanded its possession. On which, Assistant District Officer, Education, Elementary (Male), Gulberg Town, Syed Taj Muhammad Shah was assigned the task by the department submit a report to the department in this regard after verifying the records and documents.

In his initial report submitted to the department, Shah said that Kidwae was continuously pressurising him to sign the Denationalisation Performa I and II, the sources further said. Kidwae had provided a pre-written Performa, which contains his (Kidwae’s) name and particulars in the column of owner, and asked Shah to approve it, the sources added. They further said that the ‘filled’ Performa was not authentic and Shah simply refused to verify it.

Owing to the absence of the lawful verification the Performa has no legal value and Kidwae could not claim the ownership in this regard, the sources added.Shah in his report told the department that Kidwae is not the original owner of the said school because he had never been listed as the owner of the building as per the office records. Shah said that Kidwae does not have lawful ownership documents. The photocopies of the sale and purchase papers, which dated 2007, presented by Kidwae did not hold any legally recognised grounds to declare him the owner, the report added.

Meanwhile, Shah said that he had asked Kidwae to come up with original and genuine papers of ownership to prove his claims, but he did not turn up with the required documents to back his statement. Shah categorically said that this was an attempt to occupy the building, given that Kidwae failed to produce the papers that could prove his ownership.

But despite this the education department has not taken any action in this regard. The report was submitted last month and the Education department has done nothing positive to protect the school building.