Published on November 24, 2009 real facts are that the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) has sold to Defence Housing Authority (DHA) 544 kanals of agriculture land attached to two Sikh shrines - Samadh Bhai Maan Singh and Gurdwara Deh - in Lidhar, a village in Lahore Cantonment, in violation of ETPB's own scheme for management of evacuee trust agriculture land. The law governing the functioning of the trust prevents it from selling any land attached to a place of worship and religious shrines unless it is determined as "uneconomic". The trust had actually sold a total area of 855 kanals of agriculture land to DHA. But the question here is: why the conveyance deed shows the sale of only 544 kanals. The 311 kanal of land whose sale is not mentioned in the deed is situated in Mota Singhwala village. The vague fixation of the consideration makes the deal, which sells the land to DHA with all rights possessed by the trust, even shadier. Under the Evacuee Trust Property Board Management and Disposal Act, 1975, the trust's function is to undertake development of agriculture land for increasing its productivity and enhancing the commercial value of its property. Instead of developing the land for increasing the productivity of the land, the board has sold it to DHA in a deal that changed the very nature of the agriculture land into residential plots. The trust is not vested with such power. The nature of the land involved in the sale is Waqf land attached to a religious shrine of the Sikh community. This land was initially attached to the shrine with the object that the produce obtained by cultivation of this land was spent on the maintenance of the religious shrine. The development of agricultural activity was also envisaged in such dedication. The conversion of such land into residential plots thus distorted very purpose of such dedication. YOUNUS JOYA, Lahore, November 30.