The court issued a notice to the Punjab Ministry of Local Government and Murree Deputy Commissioner, ordering them to submit a written response and a clause-by-clause response to the petition.
The petitions were filed by former chairmen of the Kotli Sattian union councils, Azhar Abbasi, Raja Haroon, Abdul Quddus, Raja Saleem Sati, Abdul Manan and Barrister Hamza Anwar. They adopted the position that any road can be named after a national hero or martyr, but, as per the law, it is necessary to make an advertisement, in which objections are sought from the local population. They asserted that the old name of a historical road cannot be changed in this way and that it is illegal to change its name only on the basis of a resolution of the Punjab Assembly.
The local MPA passed a resolution to change the name of the historical road to “Air Marshal Raja Najeeb Road” in the Punjab Assembly. However, since the retired Air Marshal is currently alive, the petitioners said that renaming the road after him would be unconstitutional and illegal. They added that no local union council citizens have requested the change, which means that the prevailing law for changing the name of ancient roads or buildings has not been followed.