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Civil Petitions Nos. 145‑R and 146‑R of 1984, decided on 5th April, 1986.

(From the judgment of the Lahore High Court, Lahore, dated 26‑2‑1984 in Writ Petitions Nos. 33‑R and 180‑R of 1982).

‑‑‑Art. 185(3)‑‑Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act (XXVIII of 1958)‑‑Petition for leave to appeal‑‑Dispute arising about character of property in dispute as evacuee trust property‑‑Various types of objections raised including objection that question of status of property had earlier been determined against Evacuee Trust Board and further that, at one stage it had withdrawn from proceedings for determination of character of property and thus estopped from reagitating matter‑‑Question of transfer of property to individuals under Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958, on assumption that it was not Evacuee Trust Property, was also agitated before and this act being allegedly bona fide it was, held, that no useful purpose would be served by Chairman Evacuee Trust Board proceeding with matter any further‑‑Leave to appeal granted in view of questions raised in petition and value of property involved.

Ch. Fazal‑i‑Hussein, Advocate and Muhammad Aslam Chaudhry, Advocate‑on‑Record for Petitioner.

Saeeduallh Khan, Advocate Supreme Court for Respondents (in Civil Petition No. 145‑R of 1984).

M.A. Siddiqi, Advocate‑on‑Record and Muhammad Farooq, Advocate Supreme Court for Respondents (in Civil Petition No. 146‑R of 1984).

Date of hearing: 5th April, 1986.

Leave to appeal has been sought from judgment, dated 26‑2‑1984 of the Lahore High Court; whereby two Constitutional petitions relating to proceedings before the Chairman Evacuee Trust Board about a property which purports to be evacuee trust property, were allowed and the proceedings were held to be illegal and without lawful authority and accordingly without any legal effect.

It is not necessary to give the chequered history of the case. It has already been once before this Court in an earlier proceedings. This time a Deputy Administrator of Auqaf initiated proceedings before the Chairman Evacuee Trust Board for declaring the property in dispute as evacuee trust property as it used to be a charitable hospital. Various types of objections were raised including the objections that the question of status of the property had earlier been determined against the Evacuee Trust Board and further that at one stage it had withdrawn from the proceedings for determination of the character of the property and thus were estopped from reagitating the matter. The question of transfer of the property to individuals under Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958, on the assumption that it was not evacuee trust property was also agitated; and this act being allegedly bona fide it has been held that no useful purpose would be served by the Chairman proceeding with the matter any further.

Keeping in view the questions raised in this petition and the value of the property involved, we consider it a fit case for grant of leave to appeal.

Order accordingly.

Learned counsel for the petitioner states that one of the questions raised in these two petitions is also involved in Civil Appeals Nos. 185 to 190 of 1981 (The Evacuee Trust Property Board, Lahore, etc. v. Haji Ghulam Rasul Khokhar etc.) which having been processed are likely to be heard in the near future.

We accordingly direct that the appeals arising out of these petitions shall be heard with the said appeals.

The present appeals will be prepared on the existing record with liberty to the parties to add additional documents, if necessary.

Stay order passed on 24th of March, 1986, shall continue in force.

M. Y. H. ‑‑‑‑‑ Leave granted.

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