PESHAWAR, Jan 29: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday accepted an appeal filed by a person whose land had been acquired by the defence ministry in Kohat without any payment.

The bench set aside the order of a civil judge and remanded the case to the Kohat senior civil judge with the directive to decide the matter within six months.

The civil judge had dismissed the suit of appellant Mohammad Shoaib on the grounds that the matter did not fall in the civil court's jurisdiction. The bench, comprising Justice Malik Hamid Saeed and Justice Talat Qayum Qureshi, observed that the land was acquired 23 years ago and respondents had neither vacated the land nor had they paid any compensation to the appellant.

The land measuring 8 kanals was acquired by the defence ministry for the air force. The bench asked the deputy attorney-general whether by taking advantage of technicalities the government wanted to deprive the appellant of his right. It further asked the DAG under what authority respondents had kept the land for the last 23 years without any compensation being paid to the appellant.

Justice Saeed observed that respondents wanted to continue with the occupation through use of force. The bench asked the DAG why the government had not acquired the land by fulfilling legal requirements. Justice Saeed observed that the court would not allow the government to deprive citizens of their property by taking cover of legal technicalities.