LAHORE: A Lahore High Court judgment has ruled that compulsory acquisition of land cannot be made for the establishment of a private housing scheme.

“The requisition for compulsory acquisition of the property for the benefit of one or more private individuals has no backing of law, ” the court observed.

Through the ruling, Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal dismissed a petition of Eden M/S Developers challenging an order of Board of Revenue (BoR). The revenue officer had rejected an application of the developers for acquisition of land to establish a housing scheme.

The petitioner-company argued that a notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was issued in its favour for acquisition of the required land. However, the BoR in 2011 cancelled the notification on the complaint of one of the owners of the property intended to be acquired and the developers challenged the same before the court.

Justice Iqbal in his verdict observes, “It is the eminent domain of every government to appropriate the property of any citizen for necessities of the State, however, it entails to the constitutional requirement that the acquisition or dispossession must be for public purpose.”

The ruling states that in the instant case neither the land was acquired for public purpose nor the government was satisfied, which is mandatory under the acquisition laws.

“Undoubtedly, the sanctity of the public purpose gathers supremacy over the individual interest,” it maintains adding that the acquisition of land other than for public purposes will be ultra vires of provision of Article 24 of the Constitution as well as the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

“In this case, it is admitted fact that the petitioner is establishing a private housing scheme for business purpose and doing sale and purchase i.e. real estate business is private purpose which cannot be termed a public purpose,” the judge holds dismissing the petition.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2017