SAID MUHAMMAD and others vs ADDITIONAL SETTLEMENT COMMISSIONER/
This petition for leave to appeal arose from a High Court judgment concerning the cancellation of land allotments previously confirmed in favor of an allottee, Muhammad Shafi. The petitioners, who were subsequent purchasers for value of a portion of this land, challenged the cancellation, which had been initiated following an informer's report (Mukhbari) alleging the original claim was forged and bogus. The core legal question addressed was whether the petitioners possessed a statutory right to purchase the land under the Evacuee Property and Displaced Persons (Repeal) Act of 1975, particularly after the original allotment was cancelled due to fraud. The Supreme Court observed that the petitioners had delayed filing their writ petition for seven years following the cancellation order. Furthermore, the Court affirmed that the vendees held no preferential claim over the informer, citing established precedent. Consequently, the Court found no valid grounds to grant leave to appeal, determining that the petitioners' claims were legally untenable given the fraudulent nature of the original allotment and the significant delay in seeking judicial redress. The petition was accordingly dismissed.
- Do subsequent purchasers for value have a preferential claim over an informer regarding land allotments cancelled due to fraud?
- Does a seven-year delay in filing a writ petition against a cancellation order constitute laches?
- Can purchasers of land allotted through a forged claim assert a right to purchase under the Evacuee Property and Displaced Persons (Repeal) Act 1975?
- Section 3(1), Evacuee Property and Displaced Persons (Repeal) Act 1975
ORDER
' RUSTAM S. SIDHWA, J.--This is a petition filed by Said Muhammad and other petitioners, seeking leave to appeal against the judgment of the High Court dated 2-2-1988.
2. The only question in this case is whether the petitioners, who are purchasers for value of part of the land allotted and confirmed in favour of Muhammad Shafi, which later was cancelled on the Mukhbari of Shah Din respondent No,3 and Muhammad Bashir (not a party in the present proceedings), has a right to purchase the same under section 3(1) of the Evacuee Property and Displaced Persons (Repeal) Act of 1975.
3. The land of Muhammad Shall was cancelled by the Additional Settlement Commissioner on 4-11- 1976 on the ground that the allottec had secured the same on a forged and bogus claim. The petitioners did not file writ petition till 10-3-1983, after a lapse of seven years. The finding that the vendee had no preferential claim over the informer, in view of the decision of this Court in Barkat Ali v. Syed Shahzad Nazeer 1981 SCMR 693, is also not open to question. Taking all circumstances into consideration we find no good grounds for granting leave. This petition is, therefore, dismissed.