1971 PLP 505 (SCMR)

M. R. KHAN, J.‑This appeal, by special leave, is directed against the order of a Letters Patent Bench upholding the dismissal of the appellants' Writ Petition No. 1068/R of 1966 by a learned Single Judge of the former High Court of West Pakistan, Lahore. The appellants owned some lands in villages Darya Afghan and Sheikhpur Mallahan in Tehsil Shakargarh, District Gurdaspur. Under the Radcliff Award, these lands were included in the territory of Pakistan. The river Ravi, according to the appellants, passed through those villages and formed the boundary line between India and Pakistan. The said river gradually changed its course and at one time washed away the entire lands of the said villages including the lands of the appellants. The appellants were then obliged to apply for alternative lands in lieu of their lands lost due to the change in the course of the river. They were accordingly given some other agricultural lands under Paragraph 27 of the West Pakistan Rehabilitation and Settlement Scheme by way of compensation for the lands lost by them. Subsequently, the Survey Parties of India and Pakistan refixed the boundary of the Shakargarh Tehsil as a result of which both the villages aforesaid were given back to Pakistan some time in the year 1960. There after, the appellants applied to the Border Area Committee for restoration of their original lands and offered to surrender the lands allotted to them under Paragraph 27 of the Rehabilitation and Settlement Scheme. This prayer was not accepted, and the appellants' original lands in the said two villages were allotted to third persons. Thereupon the appellants made the writ petition in the High Court for quashing the order of the Border Area Committee. A learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition on merits. The appellants then took a Letters Patent Appeal. The learned Judges of the Letters Patent Bench, however, without considering the appeal on merits, dismissed it on the short ground that the order of the Border Area Committee in this case, in view of the decision of this Court in Mohd. Khan v. Border Allotment Committee (PLD1965SC623), was immune from challenge. The decisions of this Court in Mohd. Khan v. Border Allot ment Committee and Mehr Din v. Border Area Committee (PLD1970SC311) are to the effect that while every order of the Border Area Committee passed before the 8th of June 1962 is immune from attack, the High Court has jurisdiction to examine the validity of an order made by such Committee on or after the said date. The impugned order of the Border Area Committee is not on the record. It is not, therefore, quite clear when exactly the order complained of was passed by the Border Area Committee. However, it appears from the application at page 8 of the paper‑book that one of the present appellants, namely, Masood Khan together with Lal Din, the father of the appellant Fateh Muhammad made a prayer before the Border Area Committee, Narowal on the 22nd March 1965 for restoration of their original lands in villages Darya Afghan and Sheikhpur Mallahan. If the application itself was dated the 22nd March 1965, then, the order of the Border Area Committee on that application, if any, must have been on or after the said date. Such an order, if any, is not immune from attack, and the High Court has jurisdiction to examine its validity. The case is, therefore, remanded to the High Court after setting aside its order, to ascertain if the Border Area Committee passed any order refusing the prayer of the appellants and the date on which such order was passed. If the order complained of was passed on or after the 8th of June 1962, the High Court shall examine the validity of that order and dispose of the appeal on merits. It may be mentioned that at the time of granting leave, it was submitted on behalf of the respondents to remand this case to the High Court for its hearing along with the Letters Patent Appeal No. 313 of 1969. The appeal is disposed of accordingly. There will be no order as to costs. Order accordingly.