LAHORE - The Lahore High Court on Friday permitted Punjab Civil Secretariat to use the land of pre-partition 'Baba Ground for car parking purposes and also directed the Punjab chief secretary to provide the ground to Punjab University on all occasions of the varsitys sports festivals. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah passed this order on Friday on a petition filed by the Punjab University (PU) registrar against the conversion of a playground, popularly known as 'Baba Ground, into a parking lot near the Punjab Civil Secretariat. Land of the Baba Ground has been a disputed property between Punjab University (PU) and Provincial Assembly (PA) since pre-partition and the question of the grounds ownership is yet to be settled. The judge adjourned hearing of the matter till September 30 with directions to the secretary provincial assembly to appear in the court with all available record regarding the grounds ownership if it was really allotted to the Punjab Assembly. During Fridays proceedings, PU counsel Shahzad Shaukat advocate pleaded that in 1920 the then commissioner of Lahore had given the land of the playground to Punjab University for sports, however recently the provincial assembly got the playground allotted in its name unlawfully. The PU counsel stated afterwards the Punjab government gave 'control of the playground to Punjab Civil Secretariat for car parking as the ground was located adjacent to the building of Civil Secretariat. Earlier, the judge had stopped Civil Secretariat from using the ground as parking lot by issuing a stay order in favour of the Punjab Universitys Registrar. After the stay orders the grounds gate was locked till decision on this petition and the civil secretariat employees had to park their vehicles on road sides near their office. On Friday, the PU counsel alleged that during stay against parking in the ground the assembly locked the grounds gate to keep its possession on the land. Additional Advocate General Chaudhry Zubair on behalf of the assembly said the land belonged to the assembly and the PU had been keeping the grounds possession without any allotment documents. He refuted the allegation that the assembly locked the ground rather he said it was the PU which locked the gates of the ground. Chaudhry Zubair said Baba Ground belonged to the Punjab Assembly as it had been allotted to the assembly in 1986. He said the removal of the parking was causing massive traffic jams on adjacent roads, as visitors of the civil secretariat and sessions court were parking their vehicles on the road. Zubair argued in view of the security reasons after incidents of terrorism, the ground was handed over to the civil secretariat so that employees of its various departments may park their vehicles in the ground. The PU counsel pleaded the Punjab government had allotted the land to the university in the late 1950s for the sole purpose of building a playground but now it had been converted into a parking area for civil secretariat employees and visitors. He submitted the playground could not be converted into a parking lot and that secretariat officials had carried out the conversion without taking permission from the university. Further proceedings to decide the question of playgrounds ownerships rights will resume on September 30 with the reply of the assemblys secretary.