1972 PLP 126 (SCMR)

FAZLE‑AKBAR, J.‑This petition for special leave to appeal is from an order of a Division Bench of the High Court of West Pakistan at Karachi summarily dismissing Letters Patent Appeal No. 228 of 1965. The dispute is with respect to a building situate on plot No. P. R. 2/3 at Saddar, Karachi which is an evacuee property. It consists of four tenements, two on the ground floor and two on the upper floor. There are also 12 servants quarters attached to this building. The petitioner Mst. Fazlun Nisa Begum, a claimant displaced person, who claimed to be in possession of a room in the servants quarters, filed a C. H. Form on 16th November 1959, for transfer of the house. A portion of the main building and the servants quarters were transferred to her on 9th January 1960, and a provisional transfer order was issued in her favour on 23rd February 1960. As later the Deputy Settlement Commissioner found that she was not in physical occupation of any part of the said building, he cancelled the previous order of transfer of the property in her favour. She then filed an appeal against the order of the Deputy Settlement Commissioner. In view of the definition of house, as given in section 2(4) of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958, the Additional Settlement Commis sioner held that the possession of an outhouse or a servant quarter would not create an entitlement for transfer of the main building. He accordingly dismissed her appeal and the said order was also upheld in revision by the Settlement, Commis sioner. A further revision to the Chief Settlement Commissioner also met with the same fate. The petitioner then attacked the orders of the Settlement authorities by filing a writ petition in the High Court but the same was dismissed and the order of the learned Single Judge was also upheld on appeal by a Letters Patent Bench. The learned Single Judge found (i) that the petitioner was not in possession of the servant quarter ; and (ii) that even if she was held to be in possession of one of the outhouses, that could not entitle her to transfer of the main building. As the finding on the question of possession was based on proper appreciation of the materials on record, the Letters Patent Bench declined to interfere with the order of the learned Single Judge. We are unable to accept the contention of the learned counsel that the finding of the learned Single Judge is not based on proper appreciation of evidence on the record. In our opinion the learned Single Judge has given very cogent reasons for arriving at the said conclusion. Furthermore, we also agree with the learned Judges of the High Court that possession of a room, in the outhouse would not entitle her to claim transfer of the main building. We therefore, see no ground for interference and dismiss this petition. Leave refused.