Punjab gets relief in Murree land allotment case

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court has given relief to the Punjab government in a case concerning 577 kanals of land in Murree, dismissing appeals filed against the cancellation of the allotment and directing that possession of the property be handed over to the provincial government.

The land is valued at more than Rs40 billion, according to details presented in the proceedings.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Aamer Farooq heard the appeals.

Court proceedings

During the hearing, counsel for the petitioners argued that the allotment could not be declared unlawful after the passage of several decades. He also contended that the legal provision under which the allotment had been set aside was not in existence at the time the land was originally allotted.

Representing the Punjab government, Advocate General Punjab Wasim Mumtaz Malik told the court that the settlement scheme permitted allotment only of agricultural land. He argued that the land under dispute is located in an urban area and therefore did not fall within the scope of such allotment.

The court subsequently dismissed the appeals and ordered that possession of the land be transferred to the Punjab government.

Value and location of the land

The case relates to 577 kanals of land in Murree. The property has been valued at over Rs40 billion.

With the dismissal of the appeals, the cancellation of the allotment remains in place, and the Punjab government has been directed to take possession of the land.

The matter was heard by a bench comprising two judges, led by Justice Aamer Farooq, which issued the relief in favour of the provincial government after hearing arguments from both sides.

The petitioners had sought to challenge the cancellation by arguing that the allotment should not be invalidated after such a long period and by questioning the applicability of the law relied upon to strike it down. The Punjab government, however, maintained through its law officer that the disputed land could not have been allotted under the settlement scheme because that framework applied to agricultural land, while the Murree property falls within an urban locality.

The court’s order means the Punjab government will now receive possession of the land following the rejection of the appeals.