MUZAFFARABAD: In a significant ruling, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court on Thursday declared at least 400 decades-old civil court decrees concerning Shamlat-Deh (village common land) void.

Deciding a large cluster of revision petitions after hearings spanning about three weeks, Justice Sardar Muhammad Ejaz ruled that civil courts lacked inherent jurisdiction to grant ownership declarations or permanent injunctions over communal land on the basis of private agreements, oral sales or out-of-court compromises.

The litigation, largely originating from Mirpur and Bhimber districts, involved plaintiffs seeking to establish private control over village common land through “agreements to sell” and gift deeds.

In many cases dating back to the late 1970s and 1980s, trial courts had passed compromise decrees that effectively partitioned communal land among individuals.

The High Court, however, held that such decrees were without lawful authority and could not be sustained.

The court observed that these arrangements bypassed the statutory framework laid down in the AJK Grant of Khalsa Waste Land as Shamlat-Deh Act, 1966, under which such land is governed exclusively through revenue mechanisms.

It held that Shamlat-Deh is not private property but a communal resource subject to specific legal provisions. Under the 1966 law, 75pc of such land may be utilised by local landowners for cultivation or plantation, subject to determination by a revenue officer not below the rank of tehsildar.

The court noted that 20pc must be reserved for public purposes, including graveyards, playgrounds and green belts, while the remaining 5pc is meant for the destitute or for regularising certain past uses.

Justice Ejaz observed that where the very basis of a claim was unlawful, any subsequent legal structure built upon it, including court decrees, could not be upheld.

The judgment noted that the question of jurisdiction over Shamlat-Deh land had already been settled by superior courts, including the apex court in an earlier ruling, which held that communal land could not be transferred through private contracts.

By granting such decrees, lower courts had effectively encroached upon the domain of revenue authorities and ignored the public interest attached to village common land, it added.

Setting aside all such decrees — including around 400 compromise rulings — and subsequent transactions, the court directed the Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR), along with other relevant authorities, to implement the judgment in

letter and spirit and to correct land records to reflect the communal status of the properties.

The ruling is expected to trigger a large-scale verification exercise across the region to ensure that land reserved for public use is

protected from private encroachment and that the authority of revenue institutions over Shamlat-Deh is fully restored.

It may be recalled that in an earlier ruling, the High Court had also annulled 52 similar decrees in Bhimber district.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2026