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Civil Petition for Special Leave to Appeal No. K‑177 of 1978, decided on 4th August, 1979.

(On appeal from the judgment and order of the High Court of Sind dated 12‑7‑1977 in Constitution Petition No. D‑382/1977).

Abandoned Properties (Taking Over and Management) Act (XX of 1975)‑

---S. 14‑A Bengali lady orally gifting her house built by her husband (a Military Officer) on a plot allotted to her husband by Defence Service Officer's Co‑operative Housing Society and later gifted to her‑Such lady executing a declaration in support of her oral gift but making no effort to get transfer mutated in Society records for four years‑House taken over as abandoned property on enforcement of Act XX of 1975 and application of petitioner under S. 14 of Act dismissed by Admi nistrator, Abandoned Properties‑‑Petition for leave to appeal, held, without substance in wake of delay of more Than four years to seek mutation, absence of intimation to tenant as to transfer of house in her (petitioner's) favour, non‑production of receipts either before Administrator or High Court, and absence of any reason as to why Bengali lady would transfer her substantial property to a cousin and deprive her own children.

Faizuddin, Advocate and Faizanul Had, Advocate‑on‑Record for Petitioner.

Nemo for Respondents.

Date of hearing : 4th August, 1979.

‑‑The petitioner seeks special leave to appeal against the judgment of the High Court of Sind dated 12th of July, 1977, by which Constitutional Petition No. D‑382 of 1977 was dismissed.

The facts are that 600 square yards of land bearing plot No. 37‑C in Pakistan Defence Service Officers' Co‑operative Housing Society Limited was allotted to Wing‑Commander Abdul Quddus and a sub‑lease was duly executed and registered on 12th of September, 1966. Thereafter, he built a house on it and later, on 26th of November, 1977, gifted it to his wife, Mst. Anwara Begum, a cousin of the petitioner's husband. The transfer of the plot was mutated in her favour by the Society. Mst. Anwara Begum, on 24th of April, 1969, orally gifted the house to the petitioner and on 2nd of August, 1969, executed a declaration to support it ; nonetheless no attempt was made to get the transfer mutated in the Society records until the 18th of October, 1973, by which date the Abandoned Properties (Taking Over and Management) Act, 1975, came into operation and the house was declared as abandoned property as Mst. Anwara Begum was a Bengali. The Society refused to accept the transfer and directed the petitioner to obtain an order from the competent authority under the aforesaid Act. Thereupon, the petitioner filed an application under section 14 of the Act on 28th of May, 1973, before the Administrator, Abandoned Properties, which wash dismissed on 20th of January, 1976, on the ground that the deed of declara tion was not a genuine document as it was not supported by any tangible evidence. The Administrator further held that the petitioner had suppressed her relationship with Mst. Anwara Begum and, therefore, it was not possible to accept that she would transfer her valuable property for the sake of love and affection. It may here be recalled that an unsigned letter addressed to the Commissioner of Income Tax, was put in proof of the alleged gift but the petitioner failed to establish that it was duly received by the addressee. Again, it was urged that the petitioner's husband collected rent from the Singer Industries Limited but no receipt was produced to support it.

Aggrieved by this order the petitioner challenged its validity in the High Court but failed to establish that the gift was genuine. The High Court accepted the conclusions of the Administrator and rejected the plea of the petitioner.

In seeking leave to appeal the same contentions were urged as were raised before the High Court but we do not see any substance in them in the wake of the delay of more than four years to seek mutation ; absence intimation

to the tenant as to the transfer of the house in her favour ; non‑production of rent receipts either before the Administrator or the High Court ; and the absence of any valid reason as to why Mst. Anwara Begum would transfer her substantial property to a cousin and deprive her own children. On this view of the matter, the factual conclusion reached by the Administra tor, does not suffer from any impropriety and the High Court was justified in upholding it.

Accordingly, there is no merit in this petition which is dismissed.

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