Secretary of the Cooperative Model Town Society has written a letter dated 31.3.2007 to Secretary S.R. Board of Revenue seeking verification of transfer order dated 23.6.1960 purported to have been passed by Khan Muqarrab Khan, D.S.C. (Plots) Lahore, in the name of Khera son of Kaka. It was also stated that respondent No. 5 has requested for grant of membership of the Society on the basis of said document i.e. PTO dated 27.12.1960 and PTD dated 24.5.1962. The petitioner filed an application on 14.5.2007 before the Provincial Verification 'Committee stating all the said- facts. Verification Committee met on 9.7.2007 under the Chairmanship of Ch. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Member Judicial-V and expressed its inability to verify the P.T.D. In the name of Khera. Thereafter the petitioner was directed to appear before same Ch. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal on 3.8.2007 in connecting with some inquiry. Ultimately on 7.12.2007 the said Ch. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal claiming himself to be the Chief Settlement Commissioner Punjab, Lahore, proceeded to hold the said PTD to be genuine. At the same time he rejected the application of the petitioner for transfer of the property.
3. Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Kasuri, learned counsel for the petitioners contends that the Chief Settlement Commissioner ceased to exist and the said Officer who was a Member of Board of Revenue had no lawful authority to set aside the order of the Administrator (R.P.) and further to verify or to hold the said document to be genuine. Learned counsel has stated several reasons which are also mentioned in the memo. Of writ petition that there was no question of said document having been issued either in fact or law. Learned counsel for respondents Nos. 1 to 3 has supported the impugned order stating that it has been passed with lawful authority. Learned counsel for respondent No. 4 Cooperative Society states that it had only sought verification of the document presented by respondent No. 5. Mr. Muhammad Shahzad Shaukat, learned counsel for respondent No. 5 urges that respondent No. 1 in his capacity as Chief Settlement Commissioner was not bound to follow his on findings while sitting as Chairman of the Verification Committee. He, however,. Has opined that even if fresh inquiry is required a panel of Notified Officers be constituted for the purpose.
4. I have gone through the copies of the records.
For the order I propose to pass in this writ petition I will not be commenting upon the, merits of the case i.e. ' as to whether or not the said documents i.e. P.T.D. Dated 27.12.1960, P.T.D. Dated 24.5.1962 and basic transfer order dated 23.6.1960 are genuine or dot.. However, I find force in the contentions of Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Kasuri, Advocate, that the Chief Settlement Commissioner as an entity had ceased to exist. Since there is no dispute that the property is urban in nature, I find that the Chief Settlement Commissioner was a creature of the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958. Under Section 9 thereof Central Government was authorized to appoint a Chief Settlement Commissioner who was to 'discharge his functions and perform his duties under the general superintendence and control of the Central Government, of course, subject to provisions of the said Act while the other officers i.e. Settlement Commissioner etc. Were to perform their functions and duties under the general superintendence and control of the Chief Settlement Commissioner subject to provisions of the said Act and all the orders to be made by the Central Government in this behalf. Under Section 10 of the said Act; subject to provisions thereof and Rules made thereunder the Chief Settlement Commissioner or an Officer authorized in writing by him were competent to transfer or dispose of any property out of the compensation pool constituted under section 4 of the said Act. By virtue of Section 2 of the Evacuee Property and Displaced Persons Laws (Repeal) Ordinance, XV of. 1974 and later under Section 2 of the Evacuee Property and Displaced Persons Law (Repeal) Act, 1975 several Acts including the saidDisplaced Persons (Compe action and Rehabilitation) Act, 1958 were repealed. Under 'Lib-section (2) of Section 2 of the said Act 1975 all the piceedings .Pending before the authorities appointed thereunder stood transfer for final disposal to Officers to be notified by the Provincial Government in the official Gazette and similarly all cases to be .Remanded by the Supreme Court and High Court, were to be remitted to the officers so notified. Chief Settlement Commissioner is not one of such Officers.
5'. In the case of Province of Punjab through Member Board of RevenUe (Residual Properties) Lahore and others v. Muhammad Hussain through Legal Heirs and others (PLD 1993 S.C. 147) a decree was passed ex parte, inter alia, against the Government of Pakistan sued through Chief Settlement Commissioner, Board of Revenue, Punjab, Lahore. An appeal filed against the said decree was dismissed and so was the case with civil revision filed in this Court. The appeal was filed by the Province of Punjab (through Member Board, of Revenue (Residual Properties) Lahore). I need to mention that lawyers of such eminence as Mr. Zaki-ud-Din P.L, Mr. K.M. Samdani (Senior Advocates) and Mr. Saleem Saghal appeared for Provincial Government. Inter alia, the plea taken was that the property in question had vested in the Provincial Government under the said Act, 1975 and the Chief Settlement Commissioner no longer exists. It was, thus, observed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of Pakistan in para 7 of the judgment at page 153 of the report:--- "Suing Pakistan, as was done in this case, through the Chief Settlement Commissioner and Member, Board of Revenue was in fact not only a mistake but a diversion of the proceedings materially affecting service and representation of the concerned defendants. The Chief Settlement Commissioner had ceased to be a legal entity or a functionary after repeal of the evacuee aws in 1974--much before the institution of the suit Provincial Member, Board of Revenue could not repre'sent Pakistan.
Similar is the position of Deputy Custodian. There was no functionary of the description of Deputy Custodian after the repeal of the evacuee laws.
6. I also find that under Section 3 of the said Act, 1975 all properties which were available for disposal immediately before the repeal of the said. Act or which 'become available for disposal after such repeal as a result of final order to be passed under Section 2(3) of the said Act, 1975 shall stand transferred to Provincial Government for disposal, in case of urban property, by the Provincial Government under the scheme to be prepared by it in this behalf.
7. Vide order dated 20.2.2007 an Officer exercising powers of Administrator (R.P.) under the relevant scheme directed the disposal of the form of late were of the petitioner after holding the property to be available. There is no appeal or revision or any other remedy provided against this order in the said Scheme framed in the year 1977: This order could have been challenged either before this Court in the Constitutional jurisdiction or in a properly constituted civil suit. Nothing of the sort was done. The documents were examined by a Committee headed by the said Ch. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and three other members and they observed that they are not in a position to give decision about the genuineness or otherwise of the PTD issued in favour of Khera because they cannot totally ignore the decision of the various courts starting from Civil Judge to Hon'ble Supreme Court and Chief Settlement Commissioner and Notified Officer of the Settlement Department. The reference, of course, is to the fact that the record was examined at all forums and said documents were not present anywhere. They proceeded to submit the case to the Chief Settlement Commissioner Punjab. It was in the said capacity that Ch. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal deceased proceeded to hold the P.T.D. To be genuine. The order is absolutely non-speaking. It fails to answer the questions arising from the circumstances established on the face of record in view of the history of the case spreading over more than three decades prior to the consideration by Ch. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal.
8. Be that as it may, I have held that the Chief Settlement Commissioner is no longer an entity much less a legal entity. Even before the repeal of the said laws once transfer documents had been issued questions arising as to their genuineness were to be decided by the Civil Court.
9. This writ petition is accordingly allowed. The impugned order dated 7.12.2007 (Annexure P11) passed by Ch. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal deceased claiming himself to be Chief Settlement Commissioner is declared without lawful authority and is set aside. It will, however, be open to respondent No. 5, if so advised to file properly constituted suit to establish the genuineness of the documents being relied upon by him. No order as to costs.
A copy of the judgment be immediately remitted to the learned Senior Member, Board of Revenue Punjab, Lahore.