LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed a petition of the Punjab Auqaf Department, challenging a mutation of a land in favour of the legal heirs of Pir Abdul Rashid, the custodian of Dargah Hazrat Bu Ali Qalandar Sahib of Panipat, India.

Upon immigration to Pakistan at the time of partition, the custodian was allotted a piece of land measuring over 387 kanals at village Bagrian Dharam Chand, Lahore, against the land of the dargah and private property left in India. Later, the entire land of the dargah was declared as Waqf property and taken over by the Auqaf department in 1968. The legal heirs legally challenged the act of the department, which ended in favour of the department and the land allotted to dargah stood a Waqf property.

The heirs were allotted land out of excess land of over 126 kanals against their pending personal verified claims through an order of 1981 passed by the then deputy settlement commissioner (Lands).

Dismissing the petition of the Auqaf, Justice Abid Hussain Chattha observed that the inaction on the part of the department created the entire confusion, which led the respondents (heirs) to take their grievance to the revenue hierarchy, which cancelled mutation, restoring the same in favour of the respondents.

The chief administrator of the Auqaf department had filed the petition against heirs of Pir Abdul Rashid, including Muhammad Panah Nomani, challenging the orders of the board of revenue in favour of the respondents.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2025