February 15, 2008	Friday	Safar 07, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 14: Leased government land cannot be mortgaged or put to any other use and is liable to resumption if not used for the specified purpose or misused in violation of the terms of grant, the Sindh High Court held on Thursday.

The ruling came in a petition moved by a purchaser of eight acres at Deh Kathore, Karachi, who claimed title through the original lessee. He complained that another person who claimed to have bought the land in an open auction ordered by the banking court following the original lessee’s failure to repay a bank loan secured by mortgaging the leased land.

Representing the revenue and police officials cited as respondents, Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada submitted that government land was normally being leased out for poultry farming or ‘wahi chahi’ (non-irrigated area cultivation) for a specific period on certain terms and conditions. It could not be transferred and it reverted to the government on expiry of the specified period. The land could not either be mortgaged and the creditor bank acquired no right to have it sold for satisfaction of a decree.

A division bench comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Farrukh Zia G. Shaikh observed that leasehold rights were generally granted for 10 to 30 years to promote a particular sector or farm produce in public interest. Certain terms and conditions remained attached to the grant and their violation might result in its cancellation. A lessee might raise temporary construction on the leased land but it created no right to mortgage or transfer, least of all ownership.

The bench further held that even the leasehold right could not be transferred as the original lease was granted to a certain person in view of his experience and qualification to use the land for a specific purpose. The government should in future refrain from transferring even the residuary leasehold rights as the practice had played havoc with the government’s ownership and possession of its land and encouraged unnecessary litigation. The lessee should himself return the land if he could not comply with the conditions of lease, otherwise the government should resume it straightaway. Extension of lease from 30 to 99 years and its conversion to any other commercial or industrial purpose by officials was a violation of the law. Any extension of period and change of use should be publicized and all those interested should be allowed to apply for the new lease.

Copies of the order were directed to be sent to the State Bank and other financial institutions, the chief secretary and the land utilization secretary for strict compliance.

Lawyer’s licence restored

Another bench comprising Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Arshad Noor Khan restored the practising licence of Advocate Mahfooz Yar Khan. The licence was cancelled under a Sindh Bar Council circular on March 17. Admitting the lawyer’s petition, a division bench suspended the SBC circular.

Advocate Khan, who heads the Sindh PML Lawyers Wing, said a lawyer’s name could only be removed from the rolls for misconduct on the recommendation of the SBC disciplinary committee and adjudication by the tribunal set up under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act. No Bar representative appeared on subsequent dates to defend the impugned circular.

Assisting the court, Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui and Additional Advocate-General Abbas Ali said the petitioner lawyer had been discriminated against as a number of Bar office-bearers were appearing in courts despite the strike call. The petitioner said he had suffered immense financial losses. He had paid Rs228,000 income tax during the past financial year before cancellation of his licence.