2000 PLP 1097 (MLD)

After the death of Ghulam Farid son of Lal Khan, an allottee of the Horse Breeding Tenancy, the District Remount Officer on 18‑7‑1983, recommended the name of his wife Mst. Sahiba Bibi for allotmbnt and proposed Zafar Iqbal, her son as "Sarbrah" for maintaining the bound animal and for meeting the obligations of the terms and conditions of the tenancy. Concurring with the said recommendation, the Deputy Commissioner/Collector Sahiwal, allotted the said tenancy in the name of Zafar Iqbal vide order, dated 5‑1‑1986 for four years. The petitioner challenged this order in appeal which was dismissed on 5‑6‑1991 and his revision before the Board of Revenue met the same fate vide order, dated 28‑11‑1991 which is impugned herein.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner has assailed the finding of the three Courts below on the ground that the recommendation of the District Remount Officer is against the record; that the Deputy Commissioner/Collector was not bound by the same; that Mst. Sahiba Bibi was not an allottee and she could not have surrendered the tenancy in favour of Zafar Iqbal, her son and that petitioner being the eldest son of the deceased breeder and. as all the legal heirs i.e. Mst. Balqees Begum, Mst. Hafeez Fareed, Mst. Shahnaz Farid and Khalid Farid have surrendered their claim in favour of the petitioner, he has a better claim than his step‑mother Mst. Sahiba Bibi.

3. Learned counsel for the respondent on the other hand, has defended the impugned judgment by submitting that Mst. Sahiba Bibi was the first wife of the deceased breeder Ghulam Farid; that she had been permanently living in Chak No.99/9‑L Tehsil Sahiwal; that during the said period, she was actively involved in the upkeeping of the bound animal's and,was also associated b;,her son Zafar Iqbal as Ghulam Farid, the original breeder was bedridden during the last eight years (on account of paralysis) preceding his death; that there is material on record that Zafar Iqbal was associated with her deceased father in the maintenance of the bound animal; that Mst. Kaniz Bibi has also surrendered her claim in his favour and that the affidavit, dated 16‑9‑1992 a copy of which was placed before the Deputy Commissioner, indicated that the deceased had nominated Zafar Iqbal for the maintenance of the animals in question.

4. Heard, I have given anxious thought to the arguments addressed at the bar.

5. The horse breeding tenancy is not heritable tenancy in the strict sense. However, a reading of memo. No., 868‑C, dated 19th February, 1951 from the Board of Revenue addressed to Deputy Commissioner Sahiwal and Multan would indicate that after the death of a lessee with a good horse/mule I breeding record, the tenancy should be allotted to the heirs of the deceased in preference to any other applicant. A heir does not become entitled to allotment after the death of the original breeder merely because of his claim of inheritance, a good record of up‑keep of the horse/mule breeding is a condition precedent. This is so because the very nomenclature of the scheme would show that this is primarily meant for remount breeding and a good record of the up keeping of the animals is sin qua non for any claim for its allotment. In Muhammad Asghar v. Mst. Safia Begum and another PLD 1976 SC 435, the nature of the scheme and the criterion of tenency of breeding after the death of the original breeder came up for consideration and at page 447, the Hobn'ble Supreme Court observed as under:‑‑ "This grant of the tenancy, as its very name implies, was made for remount breeding. Indeed, this was the sole purpose behind the grant of the tenancy by the Government. Under its Statements of conditions, before entering into possession of the land allotted to him, the tenant is required to produce a mare which is fit for breeding‑remount for the army and which has been approved by an Officer of the Government appointed for the purpose. The tenant is bound to regularly breed from the mare, horses and/or mules as the officer appointed to supervise the remount breeding/operations shall, from time to time,,direct, utilising only the service of a horse or donkey stallion selected by the said officer. He is not permitted to sell or otherwise transfer the progeny of the mare except to the Government at such price as may be determined by the officer concerned. It is his duty to maintain and manage the mare and its progeny to the satisfaction of the officer appointed to supervise remount breeding operations. This presupposes that only those who are considered suitable to discharge these obligations of the remount breeding operations are eligible for the allotment. This is a condition precedent and the choice is confined to those who are considered suitable and have thus qualified for the allotment." In the case in hand, the District Remount Officer after considering the respective claims of Mst. Sahiba Bibi widow of the deceased breeder and Mst. Balqees, the second widow of the deceased breeder, recommended Mst. Sahiba Bibi and opined as under:‑‑ Sahiba Bibi:‑‑‑She is the 1st wife of deceased breeder Ghulam Farid who has through out been living permanently in Chak No.99/9‑L Tehsil and District Sahiwal, since the time she got married, management of bound animals not only during the life time of her husband Ghulam Farid but even after his death on 4‑1‑1983. During the entire period of this tenancy especially during the last eight years or so when Ghulam Farid had paralysis and was living in the said Chak with her son Zafar Iqbal. She was helped and actively associated by her son War Iqbal in this regard. As a proof thereof Zafar Iqbal, produced the following documents before the DRO:‑ (a)??????? Bound mare covering certificate. (b)??????? Montgomery Horse Breeders Association Annual subscription receipts for the period from 1976‑77 to date. Manzoor Ahmad eldest son of deceased breeder did not bother much in' the management of bound animals and instead was found to be more interested in becoming Lumberdar of ‑Chak No.99/9‑L rather than any thing else. As a result thereof he has been appointed Lumberdar of this Chak w.e.f. 11‑4‑1983. He has very poor knowledge of breeding and management of horse and hence not considered suitable:‑‑ "In view of the foregoing facts it is recommended that the tenancy situated in Chak No.99/9‑L may please be allotted to Sahiba Bibi the 1st widow of the deceased breeder Ghulam Farid w.e.f. 4‑1‑1983. It is further proposed that her son Zafar Iqbal be appointed her Sarbrah with a sole purpose of assisting her in fulfilling the obligations of this Remount Breeding Tenancy as heretofore." The afore‑referred recommendation of the DRO was endorsed by the Deputy Commissioner and the appeal filed against the said order was dismissed by the Commissioner Multan and the Revision filed before the Board of Revenue also met the same fate. In not recommending the second wife i.e. Mst. Balqees, the DRO had given a very cogent reason and he was of the view: "She has her house at Lahore where she has been permanent living throughout. She had no association with the management of bound animals either during the life of her husband Ghulam Farid or afterwards." Iii ignoring the eldest son of Mst. Sahiba Bibi i.e., petitioner, the District Remount Officer had given weighty reasons and had recommended Zafar Iqbal the younger son as "Sarbrah" on the grounds which are supported by record. Neither in the body of the petitioner nor during arguments, any material has been brought to dislodged the finding of fact arrived at which have been upheld by the Appellate Court (Commissioner) and the Revisional Court (Board of Revenue). Even otherwise, the selection of tenants is a discretion of the Provincial Government and this Court cannot substitute its finding with the finding of the Tribunal of a competent jurisdiction unless it is shown that the order is corum non judice or has been passed in derogation to the law and the relevant rules. For aforereferred reasons, I do not find any merit in this petition which is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs. H.B.T./M‑92/L??????????????????????? Petition dismissed.