June 27, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1423

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MULTAN, June 26: The Lahore High Court, Multan Bench, has granted status quo to tenants of Peerowal farms on a petition challenging the office move to change their status as lessees.

Mehr Ameer filed a petition on behalf of the Anjuman-i-Mazareen through Advocate Rashid Rahman to contest against the Punjab government order that all the people cultivating state land should accept their status as lessees.

The Anjuman made the Punjab government respondent No 1 through the chief secretary, while the other respondents were the Punjab Seed Corporation managing director, the director farms, the Khanewal district Nazim and the police officer.

The petitioner took a plea that status of a tenant could not be changed on mere an administrative order, a single party could not amend the contract practising between two or more stakeholders, no-one had a right to destroy standing crops even if he or she was in illegal possession of land, and that the writ petition of the government could not be ensured through unlawful orders, such as, issued by the governor’s secretariat on June 7.

In the orders, the government expressed concern at the ‘inept’ handling of the authorities concerned in the face of tenants’ struggle to get ownership rights over the land they had been cultivating over decades. The order further directed that the status of tenants should be changed as lessees and cotton sown by them at Peerowal farms be uprooted.

Issuing notices to all the respondents, the court directed not to raze the crop.

The stay order sent a wave of jubilation among the tenants who had been under a siege of heavy police contingent since June 19. The police started withdrawing from their positions on Wednesday evening.

The tenants had given a 24-hour deadline to the government on Tuesday to release water for their fields. However, with the court orders, they pin hopes that water would be discharged to their fields after the withdrawal of the law-enforcement personnel.

BUDGET: Local market committee has approved its surplus budget of Rs180 million against estimated expenditures of Rs150 million for the year 2002-2003.

At a meeting held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Syed Ameer Haider, the committee estimated its income at Rs180 million.

It was decided that the market committee would focus on the welfare of growers, and would distribute power and manual sprayers among them worth Rs2.5 million on concessional rates. Hand pumps would also be installed at all the notified market areas in Multan.

Among the mega projects, the committee intended to carry out during the coming fiscal, a project of Rs7 million would be completed for the improvement and repair of roads and the sewerage system in the grain market.