P L D 1959 W (PLP)

Whether can collect revenue through his agents. Naqi Choudhry for Petitioner. Abdul Qayyum for Respondent. This is an appeal against the order of the Commissioner Lahore Division, dated 4‑4‑57, setting aside the order of the Collector, Sialkot, dated 28‑5‑56, whereby Sultan Ahmad, appellant was appointed Lambardar of village Jand Sahi, Tahsil Daska, District Sialkot. I have heard Mr. M. Naqi Chaudhry Advocate with the petitioner and Mr. Abdul Qayyum, Advocate with the respondent. The vacancy had occurred owing to the migration of the non‑Muslim Lambardar to East Punjab. The petitioner is a Gujjar and has been allotted 138 kanals of land in this village. There are five other Gujjar families, who have been allotted 100 acres of land in this Patti. He has no hereditary claims to the appointment. The respondent is a Rajput, who has been allotted 997 kanals of land in this village. He is a Matriculate. He was also a Lambardar in his previous village in East Punjab. In fact it is claimed that he was Lambardar in two villages. Ten Rajput families have settled in this Patti and have been allotted 240 acres of land. The respondent is undoubtedly a superior candidate in every respect to the petitioner but he has already been appointed a Lambardar in Chak Gallan, Tahsil Wazirabad, district Gujranwala. This village according to the Collector is at a distance of three or four miles from village Jand Sahi and at a distance of one mile according to the Commissioner. The respondent's counsel has admitted before me that the distance is about two to three miles between the two villages. The Collector decided to overlook the claims of the respondent for this appointment on the ground that he would Le an absentee and as such will not be able to discharge the duties of his office as Lambardar. The learned Commissioner deferred from this view, and held that the res pondent could not be ignored merely because he had been appointed a Lambardar in another village more particularly as he was Lambardar in two villages in East Punjab before Partition. The other village in which the respondent has been appointed a Lambardar and where he admittedly lives is situated in another police station, in another Tehsil and in another district. The duties of a Lambardar are not merely to collect land revenue but he is to assist the local authorities in numerous other ways. A person, who cannot live in the village is not in a position to adequately perform the duties of a Lambardar. I notice that since his appointment the respondent has been collecting land revenue through his agents and not himself. The mere fact that he was a Lambardar in two villages in East Punjab does not necessarily require that he should be appointed a Lambardar in G two villages in Pakistan. I agree with the Collector that it would be undesirable to appoint an absentee as a Lambardar. I, there fore, accept the appeal and set aside the Commissioner's order. I A. M. C. Appeal accepted.