LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday while announcing the verdict in 78 years old land dispute case annulled the decision of the Civil Court’s two-member bench in 1952.
In 1944, Aslam and Afzal sold 219 kanals of land in Lyallpur to Dhana Singh, but he migrated to India after independence in 1947.
While Fazal’s son Khalid Mahmood filed a claim in 1951 against his father Fazal and Dhana Singh for the sale of land. In 1952, the civil court pronounced the land judgment in favor of Khalid in the absence of Dhana Singh.
On the other hand, in 1962, Aslam’s son Najib, – the second person who sold the land- filed an application for cancellation of the land in Khalid’s name, and his plea was approved in 1963.
While Khalid appealed to the Settlement Commissioner but in 1964, the Settlement Commissioner rejected Najib’s request.
Najib appealed against the expulsion which was granted in 1966, and then his children applied to the High Court in 2018 to enforce the Civil Court’s 1952 decision.
A single-member bench of the High Court dismissed the petition, and Najib’s heirs filed an appeal against the single-bench decision, which was heard by a two-member bench.
Today’s LHC verdict stated that the land of the non-Muslims who left Pakistan after independence was owned by the Central Government of Pakistan while Khalid intentionally did not make the Central Government the party in 1952 claim filed in Civil Court.
“Khalid took a decision in his favor from the court, so the decision of the Civil Court of 1952 is declared null and void”, it added.
