ISLAMABAD, May 19: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the new Punjab administration to come up with a good reason by June 9 on acquisition of land to develop a private project called Bahria Golf City in the picturesque rural village of Salkhaiter located at the foot of the Murree Hills some 15km from the Rawal Dam.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Ijazul Hassan and Justice Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf directed the provincial government to submit its reply when, during the proceedings, it was requested to summon the Punjab chief secretary as their response on the development was necessary. Their point of view in the pending case was also not yet known, the court was told.

On a suo motu, the apex court had taken up a mercy petition regarding plight of families of Salkhaiter village, the land of whom are being allegedly acquired by the Punjab authorities forcibly by misusing the Land Acquisition Act 1894 to develop the Bahria Town scheme.

Earlier before the proclamation of the emergency and subsequent removal of the apex court judges, a five-member bench headed by now deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had stayed acquisition of land by the Punjab government for the private-sector development scheme.

On Monday, senior counsel S.M. Zafar representing the Bahria Town opposed the suggestion to get the opinion of the provincial government, saying it was not a necessary party in the instant case and therefore it was not necessary to ask its chief secretary to submit their reply.

Senator Babar Awan, representing the affected families of the village, stressed the need of getting the view of the new administration, especially after the change of government in Punjab.

The acquisition of private land by the government for a private party is also violation of Article 24(2) of the Constitution (protection of property rights) which creates fundamental right in favour of the property owner.

Salkhaiter is home to over 250 families who live in nearly 1,000 houses.

According to the villagers, the land was inherited and more than 1,500 individuals were living in Salkaither and depended round the year on the little agricultural produces from the fields on the outskirts of the rural residential place.

Last year dozens of men, women and children, carrying placards had also staged a protest demonstration outside the Supreme Court, condemning the “forceful take over of more than 659 kanals of their forefathers” by the proprietors of the Bahria Town.

In their application, the residents of the area had accused Malik Riaz Hussain, the proprietor of the Bahria Town, of enticing innocent locals through different property dealers to get sanctioned some mutations in their favour from Shamlat Land, Ghairmumkin land and the Hilly land under the land acquisition act, which subsequently was purchased by the proprietors of the housing scheme.

The entire land acquisition had been done in violation of the law under which the government land could only be acquired for public purpose and welfare, the petition highlighted.

Soon after acquiring the land, the application alleged, the proprietors started bulldozing and excavating mud around the area adjacent to the Rawal Dam.

If the excavation done through heavy earth moving machinery was not checked timely, the application claimed, the entire dam would be filled due to silting and rendered inoperative.

On the one hand the proprietors, the petition alleged, were notorious for alleged land grabbing, while on the other they were also considered to be generous in doling out kickbacks/commissions worth millions to bribe government officials.

As a result, the entire revenue hierarchy of the previous government, they alleged, had become instrumental in his (Malik Riaz) hand.

By misinterpreting the law, the proprietors intended to deprive the petitioners from their valuable ancestral land through coercive measures since all the officers of the relevant government department has virtually become his subordinates, the petition alleged.

They recalled that many a times the question of highhandedness of Bahria Town and its owner came under consideration before the Senate as well as before the National Assembly, but the matter was hushed up allegedly by offering precious houses or luxurious flats to the high-ups, it alleged.

Earlier also the same Bahria town allegedly acquired adjacent 2,300 kanals.