LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has granted an injunctive order in favour of a tenant against the Punjab government’s action of transferring his cultivated land to Corporate Agriculture Farming (CAF) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Petitioner Muhammad Jabbar, a sub-tenant of Muhammad Nagar Seed Farm in Pakpattan Sharif, pleads that the land measuring 525 acres owned by the provincial government was allotted to the farm from 1912 to 1928.

Later, the farm engaged sub-tenants on the land around 400 acres and the petitioner’s predecessor had been cultivating the land in question since 1928. He states that the land at the time of allotment was barren and in the shape of stacks of sand.

The petitioner alleges that the authorities recently threatened and restrained him from continuing cultivation of the land.

Asked about any written notice, he says, the officials showed him a notice of Feb 23, 2024, issued in the name of other tenants.

He further submits that the agriculture department, when approached, showed him a letter of 2023 wherein a no objection certificate (NOC) was issued for the transfer of the land to the CAF scheme.

The petitioner argues that the government unilaterally handed over the land to the CAF restraining him from cultivation, which is unlawful and a violation of fundamental rights.

He points out that the government had announced giving only barren land for the CAF, not the fertile land.

He asks the court to set aside the impugned decisions of the government for being unlawful.

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza directed a provincial law officer to seek instructions from the respondents, including the federal secretary for defence, by Nov 27.

“Till the next date of hearing, the possession of the petitioner over property in dispute shall not be disturbed in any manner whatsoever,” the judge wrote in the order.

It is to mention that a LHC single bench had on June 21, 2023, struck down the handing over of over 45,000 acres of land to the Pakistan army by the caretaker government of Punjab on a 20-year lease for the purpose of the CAF under the CPEC for being beyond the mandate of both -- the caretakers and the army.

However, a division bench on July 17, 2023, suspended the single bench’s decision.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2024