1986 PLP 2853 (CLC)

Malik Noor Muhammad Awan for Petitioners. Ch. Muhammad Nazir Ahmad for Respondents Date of hearing: 9th December. 1985. This judgment will dispose of Writ Petition No. 188-R of 1984 and Writ Petition No. 124-R of 1985, as these arise in similar circumstances.

2. The petitioners claim to have purchased land from one Ayyub Jehan Khan. a claimant displaced person from non-agreed area. He surrendered the area under Martial Law Regulations Nos. 84 and

89. He applied for purchase and the sale was ordered in his favour. He failed to finally make the transfer price of the allotted land. The petitioners joined in the proceedings and requested the authorities to permit them to purchase the land at the rate of Rs.10 per produce index unit. The request was declined on the ground that the judgment of the High Court relied on related to the evacuee land and the land in question having been surrendered under Martial Law Regulations Nos. 84 and 89 and having not been finally purchased by the surrender, the same has vested in the Provincial Government. This is, vide order dated 30-4-1984. Hence these Constitutional petitions.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that for such surrendered land the first offer of sale has to be in favour of the surrenderer and in case he was not to purchase the land, the land was to be sold to the sitting tenants of the land. It is contended that the petitioners were not only the purchasers from the original allottee but are also in possession of the land and are cultivating the same. Therefore, they should have been considered as tenants of the land and sold the land in accordance with the provisions of the Scheme for the land surrendered under Paragraph 8 of Martial Law Regulation No.

89. He has relied on Manzoor Hussain and 6 others v. Zulfiqar Ali and 8 others 1983 S C M R 137.

4. Learned counsel appearing for the respondents. Authorities has submitted that the prayer of the petitioners for purchase of the land was rejected because the petitioners had applied for purchase at the rate of Rs.10 per produce index unit which related to evacuee land.

5. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record with their assistance. The request of the petitioners for purchase of the land at the rate of Rs.10 per produce index unit, as if the land was evacuee, was rightly turned down by the Collector, vide the impugned order. That request pertained to evacuee property. The land in question is not evacuee property having been allotted to a claimant from non-agreed area. After surrender, it vested in the Provincial Government and for the disposal of such land, the Scheme referred to by the learned counsel for the petitioners is the applicable Scheme under which they should apply to the learned Member, Board of Revenue, for relief in accordance therewith. Action shall be taken accordingly. The petitions are, accordingly, disposed of but in the circumstances the parties shall bear their own costs. A . A . Order accordingly