Mian GHULAM ALI vs ALI NAWAZ KHAN
These petitions were filed by plaintiffs and pre-emptors who had not been able to obtain a pre-emption decree at any stage before 31st of July, 1986. The core legal question involved was whether a pre-emption decree could be passed in favour of pre-emptors after the specified cut-off date. The Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed all the petitions, holding that no decree could be passed in their favour after 31st of July, 1986, in view of the earlier decision of the Court in Government of N.-W.F.P. v. Malik Said Kamal Shah (PLD 1986 SC 360), which took effect on that date. The key principle laid down is that pre-emption claims failing to secure a decree prior to the operative date of the said constitutional ruling cannot be granted thereafter.
- Can a pre-emption decree be passed in favour of a pre-emptor after 31st of July, 1986, if no decree was obtained before that date?
- Does the judgment in Government of N.-W.F.P. v. Malik Said Kamal Shah bar pre-emption petitions where no decree was secured prior to 31st July 1986?
ORDER
' MUHAMMAD AFZAL ZULLAH, J.--Although these petitions are not connected inter se, the crucial point involved therein is the same.
2. All the learned counsel appearing in these cases have stated that these petitions have been filed by those plaintiffs/pre-emptors, who have not been able to obtain a pre-emption decree at any stage before 31st of July, 1986. That being so, no decree can be passed in their favour now after the said date on account of the decision of this Court in the case of Government of N.-W.F.P. v. Malik Said Kamal Shah (PLD 1986 SC 360) which came into effect on 31st of July, 1986. All these petitions are, accordingly, dismissed.