SHAH NAWAZ Versus NIAMAT ALI BEG
This matter comes before the Supreme Court of Pakistan upon a review application seeking review of an earlier order dated 12th July 1973, which had dismissed the petitioners' petition for special leave to appeal concerning land allotment disputes. The core legal questions involve whether heirs of a deceased person are entitled to retain excess land allotments based on a preferential claim, and whether the inability to obtain sealed certified copies of khatas constitutes a valid ground for review. The Supreme Court held that the review application lacks merit, noting that the contention regarding preferential rights was not raised during the initial hearing of the leave petition and that the respondents held a valid preferential right to the disputed lands as their claim was received earlier in time. Furthermore, the inability to substantiate claims due to sealed records is not a valid ground for review. The key principle laid down is that fresh contentions not raised at the original hearing and unsubstantiated factual grievances regarding sealed records cannot form the basis for reviewing an order dismissing a special leave to appeal.
- Whether a contention not advanced during the original hearing of a petition for special leave to appeal can be raised in a review application?
- Does the inability to obtain certified copies of sealed village khatas constitute a sufficient ground for review?
- Whether heirs of a deceased person can claim preference in land allotment over earlier received claims of respondents?
ORDER
1. SALAHUDDIN AHMED, J.‑--T his is an application asking for review of at order of this Court dated the 12th of July 1973, dismissing the petitioners' petition for special leave to appeal.
2. Mr. Qureshi Mahmood Ahmed, learned Advocate, appearing in support of the review application has contended before us that although the petitioners had originally been allotted some excess lands, they were, never theless, entitled to retain them as heirs of one Karamat Ali. This conten tion was not advanced before this Court in course of the hearing of the petition for special leave to appeal.
3. The contention was rained before tire High Court and it was rejected on the ground that the claim in the name of Karamat Ali submitted in Sargodha was received in the village in dispute on the 4th of August 1961. Admitted by, however, the claim of the respondents had been received earlier on the 5th of January 1961. The Chief Settlement Commissioner, accordingly, held that the respondents bad preferential right to the allotment of the, lands which had been cancelled from the name of the petitioners. The; learned Judges of the High Court observed that if Karamat .All himself had been alive, he could not claim preference over the claim of the respon dents and the petitioners, therefore, could not have preference over the respondents. Thus, there is also no merit in the contention.
4. It has also been contended that the petitioners had applied for certified copies of Khatas Nos. 108, 110 and 111 to prove their case drat the area allotted in the khata of the said Karamat Ali deceased was from the excess area that had been withdrawn from the khatas of the petitioners, and that a new Khata No. 111 was prepared in the name of Karamat Ali in which lesser produce index units were recorded. This reduction the petitioners asserted, was due to the fact that unit bigha was treated as pakka when adjusted in Khata No. 108, and was later treated as kacha while adjusting in Khata No. 111. The petitioners had applied for certified copies of Khatas Non. 108, 110 and 111 but they failed to obtain it as the said khata of the village had been sealed. The petitioners even now have not succeeded in obtaining the copies with the result that their claim in this respect cannot be substantiated. This is no ground for review either.
5. There is no substance in the petition, and it is, accordingly, dismissed but without any order as to costs.
6. Petition dismissed.
Cited by 1 case
- Syed MASOOD HUSSAIN ZAHIDI vs AZIZ AHMED 1984 SCMR 945