SAAD SAOOD JAN, J.--There are four petitions for special leave to appeal from the order of a learned Single Judge of the Lahore High Court.
2. Khasra No. 1217, measuring 62 Kanals and 8 Marlas, of revenue estate Bhekewal, now within the limits of the Lahore Corporation, was owned by one Ata Muhammad. A few years before Independence he sold 20 Kanals and 1 Marla out of this field to a non-Muslim. In 1957 the Rehabilitation authorities partitioned this field into two parts in order to separate the share of the non-Muslim evacuee owner. The new Khasras were numbered as 1217/1 and 1217/2. Khasra No. 1217/1 represented the share of the non-Muslim owner.
3. In the early part of 1961 the Provincial Government acquired 200 Kanals and 17 Marlas of land for the construction of a college. The land so acquired included the whole of field No. 1217/2 which had earlier been subdivided into 12 portions and renumbered as 3376/3286/1217 to 3387/3286/1217 and a part of Khasra No. 1217/1 measuring 5 kanals and 1 marls which had been renumbered as 3388/3287/1217. The dispute in these petitions relates to the last mentioned field, that is, khasra No. 3388/3287/1217.
4. Despite its acquisition by the Provincial Government, the field in dispute continued to be shown as evacuee property in the revenue record. It was then allotted in parcels of one kanal or so to the predecessors-in-interest of the petitioners. Subsequently, the Lahore Development Authority acquired the whole of Khasra No. 1217/1, excluding the portion taken over by the Provincial Government for one of its housing scheme.
5. The petitioners asked the Lahore Development Authority to grant them compensations as well as exemption plots in respect of the parcels of land belonging to them. The Authority rejected their claims on the ground that it had not acquired any part of their properties. The petitioners then invoked the constitutional jurisdiction of the High Court inter alia to challenge the refusal of the Authority to give them exemption plots. A learned Single Judge dismissed their petitions on the ground that the dispute between the parties required for its resolution a detailed inquiry into questions of fact and that such an exercise could not be undertaken in writ jurisdiction. The petitioners seek leave to appeal from this Court.
6. It may be mentioned that the relevant pages of RL-II register wherein the allotments were allegedly made to the petitioners predecessors-in-interest as well as the relevant files have been misplaced and are no longer traceable. In order to acquaint ourselves with the factual position, we examined the local revenue record.
7. Initially the notifications for acquisition of land for the construction of the College covered an area of 267 kanals and 9 marlas. During the course of proceedings before the Land Acquisition Collector the Provincial Government surrendered 67 kanals and 12 marlas; thus the land finally acquired measured 200 kanals and 17 marlas. In this context the Land Acquisition Collector observed in his award; "According to the measurement made by the Patwari on the spot the area of the land comes to 267 kanals and 9 marlas. Out of this area, un-allotted evacuee land measuring 42 kanals and 6 marlas was left out of acquisition at the request of the Director of Public Instruction, West Pakistan Lahore ad it could not be acquired under the law. Award in respect of the rest of the area was announced by me on 7-3-1961, The Director of Public Instruction, West Pakistan, Lahore vide his Memo. No. 8119/C(U), dated 11-3- 1961, has requested that the following Khasra Nos. Measuring 200 Kanals and 17 Marlas may be acquired while the rest of the land may be deleted from the final acquisition."
It may be mentioned that the Khasra numbers indicated by the Director Public Instruction included the filed in dispute as well.
8. The case of the petitioners is that on the dates on which the notifications were issued and the Land Acquisition Collector made his award, the field in dispute was still un-allotted evacuee land.
Consequently, as the said field was expressly left out of acquisition it stood acquired by the Lahore Development Authority. That being so, the Lahore Development Authority could not resist the claim of the petitioners either for payment of compensations or for the grant of exemption plots.
9. The contention raised on behalf of the petitioners needs examination. Leave to appeal is granted in all these petitions. Security for costs Rs.1,000 in each petition. The appeals may be made ready for hearing on the present record with permission to the parties to file additional documents, if any.
Status quo with regard to possession to continue during the pendency of the appeals.