PESHAWAR: Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared illegal an order of Nowshera deputy commissioner to de-notify an award announced over two decades ago for acquiring 3,413 acres of land in the district for establishing an artillery range.

A three-member bench consisting of Justice Munib Akhter, Justice Shahid Waheed and Justice Musarrat Hilali rejected around 20 appeals field by the ministry of defence and Nowshera deputy commissioner and upheld the June 10, 2021, judgment of Peshawar High Court.

PHC had accepted five petitions filed by several residents of the district against the October 7, 2019, de-notification by the district collector (deputy commissioner) under Section 48 of Land Acquisition Act and ordered the land acquiring department i.e. Military Estate Office, Peshawar, to pay compensation to the landowners as fixed by the Supreme Court in its earlier verdict of February 15, 2018.

The SC bench ruled: “Considering all facts and circumstances of the case, it has to be held that the notification, dated 7th of October, 2019, under Section 48(1) of Land Acquisition Act, 1894, was invalid, illegal and without jurisdiction, and the high court rightly set it aside. Therefore, there is no merit in these cases. They are dismissed accordingly.”

Supreme Court upholds PHC judgment in decades-long dispute

The bench dilated on section 48 of Land Acquisition Act, under which the impugned de-notification was issued. It ruled that the Act contemplated that once possession of land had been taken, acquisition was complete, and the land acquisition collector could no longer exercise the power to withdraw from acquisition of the land.

“It is implicit that after possession has been taken, the land is vested in the government, and the notification issued prior to it cannot be cancelled under section 21 of General Clauses Act,” the bench ruled.

The apex court ruled: “There is no denying that as a result of the award, the possession of the land was obtained from the landowners. This is also confirmed by the record of rights for the year 1999, which reflects the acquiring department as the owner of the land. Therefore, it is clear that the land has been absolutely vested with the acquiring department of the government since 1999.”

“In the position of law stated above, since the appellants/petitioners had taken possession of the land in pursuance of the award under Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the acquisition had become past and closed, denuding the commissioner of the right to withdraw, rescind, recall or amend any notification regarding the acquisition,” the bench ruled.

It observed that the commissioner could not rely on Section 48 of the Act merely because the acquiring department had no funds to pay for the compensation.

“The landowners could not be left in a quandary. They could not be expected to wait indefinitely, as the government had acquired their valuable right to the immovable property. If the government or its acquiring department did not have the funds, it should have made up its mind quickly and that too before taking possession and told the landowners where they stood,” the bench ruled.

The court observed that the land acquisition process started in 1977 and was delayed due to ineptitude and negligence of the appellants and since then, the landowners had been struggling to get their legitimate rights.

“In any case, at this point, the notification, dated 7th of October, 2019, under Section 48 cannot be held to be bona fide; rather, it would be construed as a clever ploy on the part of the appellants/petitioners to deceive the landowners. It does not behove the government to treat its citizens like this,” the court ruled.

Lawyers Mohammad Yasir Khattak, Mahmood Ahmad, Mohammad Saad Butt and Ashfaq Ahmad appeared for the landowners and stated that defence ministry had acquired the land in 12 areas of Nowshera for the purpose of establishing artillery range through 12 separate awards on April 21, 1999.

They said that the landowners from seven areas including Nowshera Khurd, Manki Sharif, Pirpai, Spen Kare, Azakhel Payan, Amangarh and Badrashi filed reference petitions under the Land Acquisition Act with the referee court, which ordered an increase in the compensation amount for the acquired land.

They said that after a long legal dispute over the compensation amount in high court and Supreme Court, the issue was settled by SC through a judgment on February 15, 2018. However, they said that instead of paying compensation amount to landowners, the district collector issued the impugned de-notification.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2023