1980 PLP 1519 (CLC)

SARDAR MUHAMMAD SHARIF, KHAN, J.-The above-described writs are brought to this Court for invoking extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court under section 44 of the Interim Constitution Act, 1974. By these writs the impugned orders of the Allotment Committee, Mirpur have been challenged under which the allotments of plots in dispute were made to the allottee-respondents either by cancellation of previous allotments from the names of the petitioners or in preference to them . After the submergence of old Mirpur in water and on emergence of New Town to be built after the very name of Mirpur, the land acquired by the Government was divided into specified plots so as to allot them to the people going to be settled in the proposed town of New Mirpur. A law relating to allotments of plots was enacted in 1964 which is known as the New Mirpur Town (Allotment of Land) Act of 1964., Different categories of people were defined by law who could be allotted plots tinder the provisions of the said Act and rules framed thereunder. It was by requirement of that Act that the Allotment of Land Committee was set up by tile Government to carry out the purposes of the said Act and the rules framed thereunder. This Committee consisting of a large number of members including its Chairman took the task of allotments of plots in hand and in performance of their functions, it was governed under the provisions of law as stated above. By the passage of time not only a big town of Mirpur was shaped but hamlets were also moulded into townships and in order to deal with the affairs in connection with tile planning and development etc. of the town, a change in law' was expediently felt by the Government with the result that the Mirpur Development Authority Ordinance, 1974 was made by the President which subsequently was approved by the Legislative Assembly. As soon as this Ordinance came into force, the Act of 1964 and the rules made and orders issued thereunder came to an end. How ever; a section viz. 48 under the heading `Repeal and Savings- was incorporated in the Ordinance which reads as under :-- "

48. Repeal and savings.-(1) The New Mirpur Town (Allotment of Land) Act, 1964, hereinafter referred to as the said Act, and rules and orders made thereunder bu the Government, are hereby repealed. (2) Notwithstanding the repeal of the said Act and :without prejudice to section 24 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (X of 1897) :

(a) The Allotment Committee constituted under the said Act and functioning immediately before the commencement of this Ordinance shall discharge the functions of allotment and cancellation of allotment only, and be deemed to be the Allotment Committee established under this Ordinance until altered or substituted by the Government. (b) The Allotment Committee established under the said Act, shall function in accordance with the regulations to be framed by the Authority with the previous sanction of the Government, and till such regulations are framed, the Committee shall function in accordance with the rules framed and orders issued under the said Act. (c) . (3) The appellate Authority created under the said Act shall stand dissolved and all appeals and others proceedings pending with the appellate or any other authority in respect of orders of allotment, shall be forwarded by the Authority (authorities with whom such appeals or proceedings are pending) to the Allotment Committee which in suitable cases may review the previous orders made in connection with the allotment or cancellation of allotment of land. (4) .. This section is reproduced just conveniently to understand the case of the petitioners who have challenged the authority of the Allotment Committee in relation to the allotments or cancellation of allotments effected by the present Committee. It is to be seen that at the time the Ordinance was enforced the present Committee headed by tile Minister, Mangla Dam Affairs was not in existence, though there was a Committee under the Chairmanship of Sardar Mohammad Habib Khan, Development Commissioner set up by the Government under the provisions of the Act of 1964. The reading of section 48 of the Ordinance clearly shows that the Committee headed by Sardar Mohammad Habib Khan could have also effectively performed its functions in accordance with the regulations to be framed by the Authority with the previous approval of the Government and in case no such regulations could be framed by tile Authority, for the time being, only that Committee could have acted accordingly as it used to act in pursuance of the provisions of the Act of 1964 and rules etc, framed thereunder. It is an admitted fact on the part of the parties before the Court that no rules and regulations have yet been framed by the Government or the authority as required by the Ordinance so as to enable a Committee reconstituted under the Ordinance to perform its functions in accordance with law concerning allotment and cancellation of allotment to be newly made excepting the cases falling under subsection (3) - of the said section of the Ordinance and none of these cases before us is covered by this exception. Section 48 of the Ordinance is in no way helpful to it for 'performance of its functions in relation to allotment or cancellation of allotment in accordance with the rules framed and orders issued under the Act of 1964 as they stand repealed so far as the work done or to be done by the Committee under the Chairmanship of a Minister is concerned. It is laid down in subsection (2) (a) of section 48, that the Committee established under the Act of 1964 was the Committee to perform its functions in accordance with the provisions of previous law till new regulations to be framed by the Authority accordingly. The use of definite article `the' before the word `Committee' in subsection (2) (b) of section 48, clearly denotes that the word `Committee' used in the text refers to the Committee set up by the Government under section 3 of the Act of 1964 and existing at the tithe of promulgation of the Ordinance's and that Committee has ended on the retirement of Sardar Mohammad Habib Khan from service and has been replaced by a Committee headed by a Minister. Had it been the intention of the Legislature that the Allotment Committee stepping into the shoes of the Allotment Committee established under the said Act shall also function in accordance with the rules framed and orders issued under the said Act, it. would have specifically found a place in the text-clause or there would have been use of article `a' before the word `Committee' so as to empower the present Committee to function in accordance with the provisions of the said Act and rules made thereunder. Thus it is obvious that there is no law or rule framed by the Authority or the Government, as the case mar be, so as to carry out the work of allotment of plots or cancellation of allotment to be made by the Chairman of the Allotment Committee, who is a Minister, and its members and as such the impugned orders made by this Allotment Committee are without a lawful authority. In the circumstances of the cases, the allotments of the petitioners made by the Committee in question and thereafter cancelled by the impugned orders also suffer from the same defect thereby falling in the very kind of allotments under challenge which do not have a legal sanction at their back and as such automatically stand void and of no legal effect in the similar manner as the allotments made in favour of the respondents by the Allotment Committee are illegal and of no legal effect to which a declaration is 'to be made accordingly by us. For the reasons above;' we accept these writ petitions and declare that the impugned orders were made without a lawful authority by the Allotment Committee, the respondent and as such they are of no legal effect, whatsoever. The status of the impugned property called in question shall remain as it was before the allotments held to be illegally made by the Allotment Committee headed by a Minister as if it never stood allotted to any person as the orders of allotment or cancellation of allotment of the plots in question were set at naught by this order of the Court. Under these circumstances, we feel it our duty to advise the Govern ment that as soon as the rules and the regulations are framed as required by law and for which there is a need to do so without further delay ; the cases of allotments of the. plots which are hit by this order of the Court, may properly be considered in accordance with the provisions of law so that any of the acts so done by the Allotment Committee is not subjected to litigation as in these cases a vast Litigation has reflected a situation adversely affecting the affairs of the administration thereby causing inconvenience, unnecessary expenditure of money and so many other things of similar nature to a vast array of persons. Thus the petitions and disposed of in the manner indicated above. Appeal dismissed.