PESHAWAR: A PTI lawmaker and four other landlords on Wednesday moved the Peshawar High Court against the acquisition of the prime agricultural land on the outskirts of Peshawar by the Defence Housing Authority for two housing schemes.

The petitioners including Peshawar MPA Arbab Jehandad Khan, Arbab Khuddad, Naveedure Rehman, Akhtar Ali and Jehangir Khan prayed the court to declare that their agricultural land is not liable to acquisition for housing schemes and that the actions taken in this respect for Site-II by the DHA are without a lawful authority and of no legal effect.

They also requested the court to direct the DHA first to delete their land from the list of the one to be acquired for the project and then not to acquire the same in future, too.

The petitioners also challenged the Dec 5, 2015, newspaper advertisement, which warned local landowners and property dealers against selling or purchasing land in several areas falling in Site I and Site II of the housing schemes, without the DHA’s permission.

They prayed the court to declare the said advertisement illegal.

The petitioners also sought interim relief from the court praying that until the final decision on their petition, the operation of the proposed DHA Housing Scheme Site-II Peshawar be suspended along with the said advertisement.

Respondents in the petition are Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government through its chief secretary; DHA Peshawar director (land); housing secretary; Peshawar district officer revenue; Peshawar commissioner; the Provincial Housing Authority land acquisition commissioner, and PHA director general.

The petition filed through lawyer Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik said the DHA Peshawar, a subsidiary of the Pakistan

Army, was planning to develop two housing schemes in the suburbs of the provincial capital.

It added that the DHA had published an advertisement in a newspaper banning the sale, purchase and allotment of land etc in any manner in Site-I and Site-II specified for the projects.

The petition said petitioners are owners and residents of PK-9 Peshawar and Site-II relates to their lands.

The petitioners claimed that the two mega housing projects planned by DHA in Peshawar, which if implemented would upset the local farming community, who feared that development of the proposed schemes would not only deprive them of a large swath of fertile land but would also adversely affect their livelihood.

The petitioners have contended that under the DHA Peshawar Act, 2009, the housing department was bound to notify name of areas, allowing DHA to develop housing schemes there but on barren land.

The petitioner also pointed out that according to a letter of the revenue department of Nov 12, 2002, collectors in the province had been directed to avoid acquisition of cultivable land meant for agriculture purpose and had directed to prefer barren land for the purpose of housing schemes.

They added that on Jan 10, 2011, senior member of the Board of Revenue had issued directives to all secretaries, commissioners, district collectors, land acquisition collectors etc in KP to refrain from acquiring agriculture land for housing schemes.

The petitioners said the provincial cabinet had decided first in 1988, then in 1994-95 and later in 2008-13 that there would be no conversion of agriculture land for commercial and housing activities in future. It is added that the proposed housing project would adversely affect population in three union councils by depriving hundreds of families depending on farming livelihood.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2016