Ownership dispute remains pending as future of historic structure remains uncertain
RAWALPINDI:
A 200-year-old historic building located at Committee Chowk on Murree Road, opposite the Talian Shah shrine, has been vacated by the education department after more than six decades, reviving speculations over a major commercial redevelopment plan allegedly backed by one of Rawalpindi’s most influential political groups.
The seven offices of the District Education Authority (DEA0) and district education officials were reportedly forced to move from centrally located facilities to a new Education Complex located at Madrassa Millia Islamia in Satellite Town, an area that critics say is much less accessible to the public.
The move has effectively cleared the way for the politically influential group’s long-standing plan to develop the valuable land – estimated at around Rs 100 billion – into shopping plazas, hotels and multi-storey buildings. Only the office of the Director of Colleges of Education remains in the historic structure and officials fear it too could be removed at any time.
The two-story building, considered a rare blend of European and Mughal architecture, was originally built nearly two centuries ago by a wealthy Hindu businessman in the name of his wife as an orphanage, dharamshala and shelter home.
Over the decades, the building has served several purposes. Around 1950, it briefly housed the Holy Family Hospital, while for a brief period it also functioned as Rawalpindi Jail.
Between 1930 and 1947, royal and British guests arriving from Bombay and Delhi stayed there, and it then functioned as a government rest house for almost two decades before the education department offices moved there in 1960.
Education department officials maintain that the property had been purchased legally from the Evacuee Trust Property Board and claim to have bank receipts proving payment. However, since 2024, the Evacuee Trust Property Board has asserted ownership of the site and began issuing eviction notices to education department offices and universities.
