LAHORE, Oct 17: Justice Mohammad Akhtar Shabbir of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday remanded for the fourth time since 1975 the case to the Punjab Board of Revenue to decide the question of allotment of land in accordance with law and material evidence.

The original allottees of 10 acres of agricultural land have been in litigation since 1964 without a settlement of the dispute by the BoR on merit and in accordance with the law as has been observed by the LHC. The board succeeded the settlement department.

The high court remanded the case in 1975 for the first time after it found discrepancies in the BoR decision. The LHC again remanded the case in 1990 and then for the third time in 2001. But each time, the LHC found that the BoR had not decided the case on merit and given a decision which was inconsistent with the law.

The family head, Maula Dad was allotted 10 acres of agricultural land at Sialkot’s Chakrala village soon after they migrated from India in 1947.

The writ petition in the case was filed through Advocate MD Tahir, by brothers Ranjha, 75, and Muhammad Shafi, 80, whose father was allotted the land to their father by the chief settlement commissioner. They stated in the petition that, Muhammad Bashir, a resident of Marala Headworks, took possession of the land and later got it allotted in his name in 1964.

The father of the petitioners moved the settlement commissioner which failed to decide the dispute till 1975. During the period the department was dispensed with and the BoR was given the succession to take up such disputes. The father was yet alive when he moved the LHC in appeal.

The LHC remanded the case to the BoR and soon after their father died.

Their counsel M D Tahir submitted that the law provided for the allotment of the land to the original allottees in the light of the evidence of allotment documents which the BoR had not taken into consideration before decision since 1975.