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Writ Petition No. 277 of 1956, decided on 7th November 1957.
. S. 36 (5) d r. 17(3), Administration of Evacuee Property Rules, 1950‑Review by Custodian suo motu‑Compe tent without limit of time‑Pakistan (Administration of Evacuee Property) Act (XII of 1957), S. 43 (6).
Held, that rule 17 (3), Administration of Evacuee Property Rules, 1950 empowering the Custodian to review his own order without limit of time was legal.
Sahibrai v. The Custodian of Evacuee Property South Zone, West Pakistan, Karachi P L D 1957 S C (Pak.) 63 Tel.
Ihsanul Haq for Petitioners.
S. Riaz Ahmad for Respondent No. 1.
Z. C. Valiani for Respondent No. 2.
Khalid Ishaq for Respondent No. 3.
On 8th August 1952 the then Custodian Mr. Fayyaz Ali issued an order the relevant portion of which runs as follows
"On examining the records I find that this is a very fit case for reviewing the order of Mr. Akbar Hussain dated 17th March 1951 suo motu in the exercise of powers under section 36 (5) Ordinance XV of 1949."
The matter came up for final disposal before Mr. Justice Muhammad Bakhsh Memon. A preliminary objection was raised on the ground that the rule permitting the Custodian to review a previous order suo motu at any time was bad in law and consequently any review was barred by limitation. The Custodian upheld this contention as it would be apparent from the following observations :‑
"Therefore the very first application for review by the Rehabilitation Authority was made nearly eight months after the impugned order and the application of the private applicants was made more than sixteen months after the impugned order. These will be clearly time‑barred, and therefore accept the preliminary objection of limitation and dismiss the application for review".
10 The writ petition before us challenges the legality of the order resulting in failure of exercise of jurisdiction vested in the Custodian.
W, The point at issue has been set at rest by a decision of the Supreme Court in Sahibrai v. The Custodian of Evacuee Property South Zone, West Pakistan, Karachi (P L D 1957 S C (Pak.) 63). Their Lord ships held that the rule empowering the Custodian to review his own order suo motu without limit of time was legal and essentially consistent with reason.
We allow the Writ Petition, set aside the order of the Custodian dated 23rd February 1956 and direct that the review be heard on merits according to law.
A. H. Petition accepted.
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