EVACUEE TRUST PROPERTY BOARD vs AQILA KHATOON And Other
This matter concerns a petition for leave to appeal against a judgment of the Lahore High Court, which had declared proceedings before the Chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board regarding the status of a specific property to be illegal and without lawful authority. The dispute arose when a Deputy Administrator of Auqaf initiated proceedings to declare the property as evacuee trust property, claiming it was formerly a charitable hospital. The respondents challenged these proceedings, arguing that the property's status had already been determined against the Board in previous litigation and that the Board was estopped from re-agitating the matter. Furthermore, the property had been transferred to individuals under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958, on the premise that it was not evacuee trust property. The Supreme Court granted leave to appeal, noting the significance of the questions raised and the value of the property. The Court directed that these appeals be heard alongside other pending appeals involving similar legal questions and ordered the continuation of an existing stay order.
- Can the Evacuee Trust Property Board re-agitate the status of a property if it has previously withdrawn from proceedings determining its character?
- Does the transfer of property to individuals under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958, preclude subsequent claims that the property is evacuee trust property?
- Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958
ORDER
1. MUHAMMAD AFZAL ZULLAH, J.--Leave to appeal has been sought from judgment, dated 26-2-1984 of the Lahore High Court; whereby two Constitutional petitions relating to proceedings before the Chairman Evacuee Trust Board about a property which purports to be evacuee trust property, were allowed and the proceedings were held to be illegal and without lawful authority and accordingly without any legal effect.
2. It is not necessary to give the chequered history of the case. It has already been once before this Court in an earlier proceedings. This time a Deputy Administrator of Auqaf initiated proceedings before the Chairman Evacuee Trust Board for declaring the property in dispute as evacuee trust property as it used to be a charitable hospital. Various types of objections were raised including the objections that the question of status of the property had earlier been determined against the Evacuee Trust Board and further that at one stage it had withdrawn from the proceedings for determination of the character of the property and thus were estopped from reagitating the matter. The question of transfer of the property to individuals under Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958, on the assumption that it was not evacuee trust property was also agitated; and this act being allegedly bona fide it has been held that no useful purpose would be served by the Chairman proceeding with the matter any further.
3. Keeping in view the questions raised in this petition and the value of the property involved, we consider it a fit case for grant of leave to appeal.
4. Orderaccordingly.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioner states that one of the questions raised in these two petitions is also involved in Civil Appeals Nos. 185 to 190 of 1981 (The Evacuee Trust Property Board, Lahore, etc. v. Haji Ghulam Rasul Khokhar etc.) which having been processed are likely to be heard in the near future.
6. We accordingly direct that the appeals arising out of these petitions shall be heard with the said appeals.
7. The present appeals will be prepared on the existing record with liberty to the parties to add additional documents, if necessary.
8. Stay order passed on 24th of March, 1986, shall continue in force.