' JAWWAD S. KHAWAJA, J.---The petitioner-Railways impugns the concurrent decrees of the learned trial Court, dated 4-9-1998 and of the learned appellate Court, dated 11-4-2000 whereby a suit filed by Mst. Kishwar Bibi respondent/plaintiff seeking declaration of title and permanent injunction has been decreed.
2. The facts of this case are simple. The property in dispute is land measuring 3 Marlas, 10 square feet in Khasra Nos.313 min and 1140, Badami Bagh, Lahore. The respondent/plaintiff claims that the said land was allotted to her by the Directorate General of Katchi Abadis, L.D.A. An injunction was sought to restrain the petitioner from forcibly dispossessing the respondent/plaintiff from the property.
3. The defence, set up by the Railways, was that the land was owned by it and, therefore, the Provincial Government or the L.D.A. Had no power to allot the same to the respondent. It was also the case of the Railways that it was entitled to dispossess the respondent under the provisions of the Central Government Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance, 1965.
4. Both Courts below have granted the declaration sought by the respondent and have also restrained the Railways from dispossessing her. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that the decrees of the learned Courts below are contrary to the law and also the record. Firstly, it has rightly been argued that the land, which did not belong to the Provincial Government or to L.D.A.
Could not have been allotted to the respondent. Learned counsel submitted that it was for the respondent to show some statutory power or other authorization whereby land belonging to the Railways was allowed to be allotted by L.D.A.
5. The only statute in the field relating to allotments in Katchi Abadis is the Punjab Katchi Abadis Act, 1992. Section 6 authorizes the Director-General, Katchi Abadis, Punjab to declare any area or part thereof to be a Katchi Abadi. However, subsection (2) of section 6 in clear terms, provides as under:--- "6. Declaration of Katchi Abadis and acquisition of land...
' No area belonging to the Federal Government or any authority or Corporation or body established or controlled by the Federal Government shall be declared as Katchi Abadi without the consent of the Federal Government."
6. The petitioner-Railways, undeniably, is a Federal authority, established and controlled by the Federal Government in the circumstances, there can be no doubt, at all, that the Director-General, Katchi Abadis had no power either to declare railway land to be a Katchi Abadi or to allot the same under the provisions of the Punjab Katchi Abadis Act.
7. From the documents available on file, it is apparent that the land was owned by the Railways.
This is clear from the letter, dated 1-10-1989 issued by the Director, Katchi Abadis, L.D.A. Learned counsel for the respondent was also not in a position to dispute the fact that the land was owned by the Railways.
8. Faced with the above situation, he argued that even if the land was owned by the Railways, the respondent could not be dispossessed without issuing the notice and following the procedure laid down in the Central Government Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance, 1965. He specifically argued that the notice, required by the statute, had not been issued to the respondent before the Railways brought bulldozers to the site for the forcible removal of the respondent from the disputed land in this view of the matter, learned counsel for the Railways was asked to show from the record any notice which may have been issued to the respondent. He acknowledged that no such notice was exhibited on file, but stated that the petitioner was authorized under the above referred Ordinance, to remove unauthorized occupants such as the respondent.
9. The learned Courts below have held that the disputed land was validly allotted to the respondent by the Director-General, Katchi Abadis. This finding, for the reasons recorded above, is not legally sustainable in the circumstances, the declaration of title granted to the respondent by the learned Courts below is without lawful basis.
10. As to the injunction sought by the respondent, it is apparent from the record that the notice, required under the Central Government Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance, 1965, is not proved to have been issued In- the circumstances, the petitioner-Railways is restrained from dispossessing the respondent/plaintiff without the due process of law, embodied in the Central Government Lands and Buildings (Recovery of Possession) Ordinance, 1965.
11. This petition, however, partially succeeds in terms recorded above. There shall be no order as to costs.
Petition disposed of.