' This order shall dispose of Writ Petition No,389/R-1980 (Karim Bakhsh v.The State through Additional Settlement Commissioner), Writ Petition No,390/R of 1990 (Muhammad Shafi and others v.The State through Additional Settlement Commissioner), Writ Petition No,391/R of 1990 (Rukana and Rulia (deceased) through Karim Bakhsh etc. v. The State) and Writ Petition No,441/R of 1980 (Rahim Bakhsh and others v. State through Additional Settlement Commissioner) together as common questions of law and facts arise in these matters.
2. Shortly stated, the facts are that land in dispute was allotted by the Settlement Authority in favour of the petitioners against their verified claims. The said land is in the cultivating possession of the petitioners. On the report of the Governor Inspection Team, the land in the allotment of the petitioners was cancelled by learned Additional Settlement Commissioner. Learned counsel contends that admittedly the land in question was evacuee and as such the learned Additional Settlement Commissioner had no jurisdiction whatsoever to interfere in the matter on the report of the Governor's Inspection Team. He argues that Governor's Inspection Team did not figure anywhere in the settlement laws. The functionaries who could perform functions assigned to them under evacuee laws are Rs,. Deputy Settlement Commissioner/Additional Settlement Commissioner, Settlement Commissioner and Chief Settlement Commissioner. The said functionaries can alone interfere when appropriate remedies are availed of by the aggrieved persons under the relevant laws. According to the learned counsel, this course provided by law was not adopted. Reference may be made to the rule laid down in Ahmad Khan v. Member (Consolidation), Board of Revenue etc. (PLD 1990 SC 1070). Learned counsel for the Settlement Department on instructions, defends the impugned allotment and states that allotment was correctly made against verified claim in favour of the petitioners. He, therefore, has no objections if impugned order is set aside. In the circumstances, impugned orders are set aside by declaring them without lawful authority and of no legal consequence. Petitions succeed and are allowed leaving the parties to bear their own costs.