ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court issued notices to the federal government, and all the provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory to submit reports regarding the conversion of agricultural land for residential/commercial use.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan heard the petitions of Deputy Commissioner Revenue Employees Cooperative Housing Ltd, (RECHS), Rawalpindi and land affectees.
Agricultural land consolidation
The court formed eight questions regarding the matter, which included; (1) The advantages to the province/country accruing from conversion of agricultural land for residential/commercial use. (2) Whether those investing in building societies and not utilising that land assist in generating economic activity, employment and taxable income? (3) Whether land conversions decrease the availability of agricultural land, and if so, whether it adversely impacts food security, and increases dependency on food imports? (4) Who is legally empowered to grant approvals for converting land use and for such projects? (5) Whether there is any provision for providing land to those with lower incomes, and the poor by providing smaller plots of a few or even a single marla? (6) Does not representative government require that decisions pertaining to such public matters are brought before the peoples elected representatives? (7) Does such massive land use conversions contribute to environmental degradation, pollution and climate change? (8) The applicability of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, the Registration Act and Stamp Duty Act?
Bahria Town had transferred the land that it had acquired from the defunct Revenue Employees Cooperative Housing Society (Society) to DHA by entering into a Trade-Off Agreement dated 29 August 2007.
An agreement dated 17 February 2005 was entered into between Bahria Town and Col Abdullah Siddique (retired), Administrator of the Society and the land of the Society was transferred to Bahria Town. The Agreement is on the letterhead of Bahria Town and provides that land shall be transferred to the members of the Society within a period of five years.
However, well before the expiry of the said five-year period Bahria Town is stated to have handed over the said land to DHA through the Trade-Off Agreement.
Advocate-General Punjab states that the term of the Administrator of the Society had expired when he had entered into an Agreement dated 17 February 2005 and that he was not authorized to enter into the said Agreement. He further states that the then Chief Minister of Punjab, namely, Pervaiz Elahi, had no power to exempt the application of the Cooperative Societies Act, 1925 and merger of the Society with Bahria Town and that the Minister of Cooperatives in writing had opposed it but his objections were not even attended to, and Pervaiz Elahi granted his approval.
The order said: “We found it difficult to understand the nature of the said two Agreements and whether the same were legally executed also needs to be addressed by the parties thereto. It is also not clear what the parties thereto got pursuant to the said two Agreements and the monies, if any paid/received. Therefore, the said parties are directed to file concise statements attending to these queries with site plans, marking out the land with attached Google map where the land should also be marked.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024