A local court in Rawalpindi Tuesday suspended the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) notice, directing Awami Muslim League (AML) Chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to vacate his Lal Haveli residence within seven days, Aaj News reported.

Additional Sessions Judge Khursheed Alam Bhatti ruled on the petition filed by the AML chief who had challenged the notice through his counsel.

Rashid’s lawyer termed the move a “political victimisation” against his client and requested the court to suspend the EPTB’s notice.

After hearing the arguments, the judge suspended the property board’s eviction order and summoned the deputy commissioner of the authority. The court declared the notice illegal as the matter was already pending before the court.

On Sunday, the ETPB issued a notice to Rashid, saying the AML chief and his brother have lost the “legal possession” of the property as neither had they responded to the authority’s notice nor did they pay the mansion’s arrears.

Later, on Monday, the EPTB declared Sheikh Rashid’s takeover of the Lal Have and six other units ‘illegal’ as it announced the reserved verdict in the case.

In its verdict, the board said that the petitioner [Sheikh Rashid] could not produce any records related to the seven abandoned units, including Lal Haveli.

The written judgment noted that due to political influence, the case was delayed for 27 years, adding that Rashid and his brother Sheikh Siddique had not made any payment to the endowment department since 1995.

The ETPB said that the applicant in the case had failed to produce any record that could show that he and his brother were the rightful owners of the Lal Haveli residence and other units.

It then rejected the petitioner’s request for regularization and transfer.