P L D 1958 (W (PLP)

Ch. Feroze‑ud‑Din for Petitioner Muhammad Iqbal Hussain, for Advocate‑General for Respon dent. Date of hearing: 25th February 1958 and 19th March 1958. MUHAMMAD RAFIQ, J.‑This is a writ petition by Nizam Din, resident of Chak No. 25/M. B., Tehsil Khushab, District Sargodha.

2. The petitioner is a refugee from Pathankot, District Gur daspur and settled in District Montgomery. In 1949 he was selected by the Settlement Officer, Montgomery, for settlement in the That Project Colony and there allotted 15 acres of land for cultivation. Later on, it was found that the petitioner did not hold any temporary allotment of evacuee land in District Montgomery and thus was not eligible for allotment in the Thal. Further, that he was himself not cultivating the allotted land and therefore violated one of the conditions on which the land had been allotted to him. His allotment was then cancelled on the 3rd of April 1957, which order is now being impugned.

3. It was not disputed before us that the petitioner did not hold any temporary allotment in District Montgomery, but the state ment made in the written statement filed on behalf of the Govern ment that the petitioner had filed a false declaration to the effect that he held a temporary allotment in District Montgomery is now conceded by the learned counsel for the Government to be incorrect. We have ourselves also seen the original application of the petitioner which shows that the petitioner definitely declared that he did not hold any allotment in any district. If, therefore, in spite of this the petitioner was allotted land in the Thal, it was done with open eyes. We also find that in the proceedings of the meeting held on the 8th of September 1949, in connection with the selection of colonists in the Thal (which are relied by upon the State as containing conditions of eligibility) it is merely stated that the Financial Commissioner Resettlement and Colonies "suggested" that the Settlement Officer should "endeavour" to select such landless refugees who held allotments of land. This does not mean that it is absolutely necessary that a landless refugee, such as the petitioner, must hold an allotment of land A before he can be allotted any land in the Thal. We are, therefore, unable to hold that the petitioner was not eligible for being selected as a colonist or that he deceived the authorities in any way.

4. As to the petitioner not cultivating the allotted land himself, we have been asked to accept the narrative in the written statement that prior to kharif 1956 the petitioner was not a "self‑cultivator." On the other hand counsel for the petitioner has produced certified copies of the khasra girdawris from kharif 1949 to kharif 1957 showing the petitioner to be a self‑cultivator of the allotted land. Even otherwise, we do not find anywhere laid down in the conditions on which the land was allotted to the petitioner that he must cultivate the land himself. Condition No. 19, relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner, only says that a tenant "shall bring" 1/3rd of the culturable area of the lands of the tenancy under cultivation within two years. This does not mean that he himself has to cultivate the land.

5. We also do not find any notice to the petitioner, required by the proviso to section 30, subsection 3 (b) of the Punjab Thal Development Act, XV of 1949, which should give him "an opportunity to appear and state his objections" to the resumption. Learned counsel for the State thought Annexure A could be treated as a notice, but Annexure A is merely an intimation to c the petitioner "with reference to" a protest made by him, that "the land allotted to you in the Thal area was cancelled because you did not fulfil the conditions published in the former Punjab Government Gazette notification . . . . ."

6. The result is that we allow the writ petition and set aside the order by which the petitioner's allotment was cancelled. The land has so far not been resumed, as admitted on behalf of the respondent and it shall remain in possession of the petitioner. A. H. Petition accepted.