P L D 1965 (W (PLP)

Shamim Ahmad Mirza for Petitioner. M. Ehsan‑ul‑Haq for Respondents. Date of hearing : 6th April 1964. Briefly, stated the facts are that the petitioner had filed claim No. 13096 under Schedule IV to Registration of Claims (Displaced Persons) Act, 1956, concerning the urban agricultural land abandoned by him within the municipal limits of Amritsar. Initially, this claim was disposed of by Ch. Ali Ahmad, Deputy Claims Commissioner (Lands) vide his order dated the 23rd of September 1959. The petitioner filed an appeal against this order which was accepted by the Additional Claims Commissioner who directed for fresh verification. The petitioner filed his U. R. I. Form on the 22nd of March 1961. On remand, the Deputy Claims Commissioner (Lands) on the 30th of May 1963 verified the entitlement of the petitioner for 24 marlas of urban agricultural land. On receipt of a copy of the order, the petitioner filed another U. R. I Form on the 4th of June 1963. These U. R. I forms have been rejected as barred by time. This petition has been filed challenging the order of the rejection of the petitioner's U. R. I forms on the basis of the same being barred by time.

2. Paragraph 2 of the Press Note issued by the Chief Settlement and Rehabilitation Commissioner concerning the filing of these forms runs as follows :‑ "All these claimants are accordingly advised to put in their applications for allotment of land under the Scheme in the attached form with the statements and documents referred to therein to the Officer‑on‑Special Duty, Central Record Office, Rural, Lahore, up to the 30th of September 1959 or within one month of the date of verification or within 15 days of the delivery of the copy of verification order in cases where application was made within one month of the date of verification whichever may be later." It is contended on behalf of the petitioner that the verification order in the present case, would be the last order passed by the Deputy Claims Commissioner (Lands) on the 30th of May 1963. That the U. R. I. Form filed on the 4th of June 1963 was within limitation as it was filed within one month of the order. It was even within 15 days of the receipt of the copy of order, as the petitioner had filed the application within one month of the order and received it on the 30th of May 1963. In reply, the learned counsel for respondents argued that the Chief Settlement and Rehabilitation Commissioner had fixed 31st of May 1960 as the last date for receipt of U. R. I. Forms. Consequently any forms filed after that date would be barred by time. This contention of the learned counsel for respondents has no force because the first Press Note issued by the. Chief Settlement and Rehabilitation Commissioner on the 29th of August 1959 quoted above prescribing the period of limitation is not cancelled by the latter instructions because if the claim form is pending and is not finally, decided by the concerned authorities before the 31st of May 1960 it would not be either just or legal to declare the forms of persons filed after the 31st of May 1960 as barred by time. The intention in fixing the final date as 31st of May 1960 was that after a claim has been finally verified and the U. R. I. Form is not filed within one month of the last order or within 15 days of the supply of the copy to the claimant and a belated form is filed then such form should not be accepted if filed after the 31st of May 1960. This date would be applicable fort which the limitation period had started earlier, not filed within the prescribed period but in the cases of forms like the one under consideration the period of limitation would not start till the final order of verification is passed. The find order having been passed in the present case on the 30th of May 1963 the U. R. I. form filed by the petitioner on the 4th of June 1963 is well within time.

3. In view of what has been stated above, I would quash the order passed by the Officer‑in‑Charge, Central Record‑Office, Lahore on 27th of August 1963 in pursuance of an order of the Chief Settlement and Rehabilitation Commissioner dated the 24th of August 1963. The U. R. I. form of the petitioner will be treated as within limitation and verified accordingly. The parties will bear their own costs. A. H./K. B. A. Order quashed Petition accepted.