LAYYAH, May 4: The Board of Revenue has cancelled 7,278 of the 9,694 canal land illegally allotted to an influential politician by the assistant commissioner and the deputy district officer for revenue.

The government in Punjab decided to bring under its command the vast desert lands of the Thal area and for this purpose it established the Thal Development Authority (TDA) in 1949 under the TDA act. The TDA started land acquisition in 1951 and completed the process in 1955. It signed an agreement with landholders under which some land was deducted for the canal system and the remaining was returned to them as a right of return.

Under Section 21 of the TDA Act landowners were divided in three categories. People having land up to 15 acres were returned their lands without deduction of any land as development charges.

They were placed in Naqsha No. 1 of the TDA. The people who had land between 16 acres to 100 acres were placed in Naqsha No. 2 of the TDA and half of their land was deducted as development charges. The people who had more than 100 acres of land were placed in Naqsha No. 3 and they were returned only 1/4th of their total land.

In the process, several big landowners lost their lands. Noor Alam Shah, the Pir of Chattar Sharif, was one of many such people. He had 8,407 canal land in Fatehpur village of Karor Lal Esan tehsil. Under the TDA Act, Shah’s entire land was taken by the government and later he was returned only 2,416 canal land under his right of return. He was entitled to get back 1/4th of his land as per formula under Naqsha No 3.

Shah moved the West Pakistan High Court against the decision, but his petition was rejected. However, the court said the petitioner could invoke the relevant civil court for redressal of his grievance, but Shah did not go to the civil court.

After Shah’s death, his son Muhammad Hussein Shah filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court’s Multan Bench to reclaim his father’s land. He did not however inform the court about the West Pakistan High Court’s decision on the issue. The LHC bench told the relevant revenue authorities to decide the issue in the light of prevailing policy, standing instructions and rules on the subject.

Later, Hussein Shah succeeded in reclaiming 9,649 canal land in connivance with the assistant commissioner concerned and the deputy district officer for revenue (DDOR). Against these orders of the Karor DDOR, the then district officer for revenue filed an appeal in the court of the Layyah executive district officer for revenue, who sent the case to the Punjab Board of Revenue.

Finally, senior board member Dr Liaquat Ali Niazi set aside an order relating to the over adjustment of the land to legal heirs to Noor Alam Shah. Niazi also directed the Layyah district officer for revenue to give the said over adjusted land to TDA. The district officer for revenue cancelled illegal adjustment of land in favour of Hussein Shah.

This is the first case of its kind in the area. However, Dr Niazi had to pay the price for his decision, as he was made officer on special duty for deciding the case against Hussein Shah.