LAHORE, Jan 5: The Lahore High Court has directed the Auqaf Department to ignore political pressure and hand over the possession of its auctioned land in Jabbo Ana village to the highest bidder after ejecting the unauthorised persons with the assistance of the Jhang DPO.
Plaintiff Amjad Husain submitted in his writ petition that he offered the highest bid for the lease of Auqaf land in Jabbo Ana village, Jhang district, in the auction held in June, 2006, and deposited Rs150,000 for kharif and rabi crops during 2006 and 2007.
The possession of the land had, however, not been handed over to him so far as it was occupied by relatives of the area MPA. He got a case registered against them for threatening him on Oct 10 last year but the Punjab Auqaf secretary cancelled the auction proceedings on Oct 18.
He prayed the court to direct the authorities concerned to hand over the possession of land to him.
It was pointed out in parawise comments that the land leased to the plaintiff was in possession of the relatives of sitting MPA Faisal Hayat Jaboo Ana. The local police and Auqaf department were not only helpless but the Punjab Auqaf secretary had cancelled the lease on the application of illegal occupants during the pendency of the writ petition.
The additional advocate-general admitted that the order for cancellation of auction proceedings had been passed arbitrarily without affording an opportunity of hearing to the plaintiff who was not only the highest bidder but had also deposited Rs150,000.
The Auqaf district manager, Jhang, recommended ejectment of unauthorized occupants, pointing out that he had not only contacted the Jhang tehsildar but also the SH0 for the purpose, but to no avail.
Accepting the writ petition, the high court observed that it had been admitted that the petitioner obtained the lease through the open auction which was approved by the competent authority, but cancelled it under political pressure without issuing notice to him.
It had also been frankly stated in parawise comments that possession of the land could not be handed over to the plaintiff because it was in unauthorized possession. The court ordered cancellation of lease passed by the Punjab Auqaf secretary for being without lawful authority and directed the Auqaf department to hand over the possession of land to the plaintiff.