' By this order I propose to dispose of C.Rs, No,672/91, 673/91 and 900/91 as common questions of facts and law are involved therein.
2. The petitioners instituted suits against the respondents, alleging therein that each one of them was owner of plot measuring 2 Kanals 18 Marlas bearing Khasra No,159/60 min situate in Begum Kot, Lahore on the basis of transfer orders passed by the Settlement authorities on 16-3-1961.
Respondent No, 3 (Evacuee Trust Property Board) started asserting ownership of the said plots being evacuee trust property and respondent No,1 collected material thereon, to raise construction for a school. The petitioners were, therefore, obliged to file petition under section 10 of the Evacuee Trust. Properties (Management and Disposal) Act (XIII of 1975) for validation of the transfer of the plots in dispute in their favour which was pending decision before the respondent No,3 and sought permanent injunction against the respondents restraining them from raising construction on the disputed property as also to abandon illegal occupation thereof. During the pendency of the suits respondents Nos.2 and 3 filed petition under Order VII rule 11, C.P.C. Seeking rejection of the plaints on the ground that the property in dispute was admittedly an evacuee trust property and that the jurisdiction of the Civil Court to entertain the suit was barred under the provisions of Act XIII of 1975.
The learned Civil Judge vide order dated 13-3-1991 rejected the plaints and that order was maintained in appeals before the learned Additional District Judge, Lahore on 20-4-1991. Hence these petitions. Muhammad Arshad Malik, General Attorney, on behalf of the petitioners stated that the property in dispute was transferred to the petitioners by the Settlement Department and that the respondents occupied the same illegally. He also stated that the petitioners did file petition under section 10 of the Evacuee Trust Properties (Management and Disposal) Act, 1975 for validation of the transfer of the plots in their favour but that application had been dismissed by the Chairman, Eyacuee Trust Property Board, Lahore on 11-7-1991 and their revision petitions against the aforesaid order before the Additional Secretary, Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Islamabad had also failed on 24-8-1991. He, however, pointed out that against the aforesaid decisions they filed writ petition in this Court which stands already admitted to regular hearing and stay order has been granted in their favour.
3. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the contesting respondents, on the other hand, submitted that the property in dispute was admittedly an evacuee trust property, petitioners have failed to establish their title to the same before the Chairman, Evacuee Trust Property Board, the same was in occupation of the respondents on the day the suits were instituted, therefore, the suits were not maintainable. It was also pointed out that the petitioners in fact wanted to seek declaration of the title to the suit property although they were fully aware that the property in dispute was in possession of the respondents. The declaration regarding the nature of the property or to issue injunction in respect thereto being barred under section 14 of the Evacuee Trust Properties (Management and Disposal) Act, 1975, the plaints were rightly rejected by the Courts below.
4. 1 have heard the General Attorney on behalf of the petitioners as well as learned counsel for respondents . Even the petitioners in reply to the application under Order VII, rule 11, C.P.C. Filed by respondent Nos. 2 and 3 did not deny the factum of the disputed property being evacuee trust property but claimed that the same stood transferred in their favour by the Settlement Department. Learned counsel for respondents placed on record photo copies of the order dated 11- 7-1991 passed by the Chairman, Evacuee Trust Property Board as well as order dated 24-8-1991 passed by the Federal Secretary respectively, the perusal whereof shows that the stand taken by the petitioners that the property was validly transferred to them by the Settlement Department was not even acknowledged by the Settlement authorities.
Keeping in view the bar of jurisdiction as contained in section 14 of the Evacuee Trust Properties (Management and Disposal) Act, 1975, the petitioners not being in possession Of the property when suits were instituted, their petition under section 10 of the aforesaid Act having failed and stay order obtained by them in writ jurisdiction, I am not inclined to interfere in the impugned orders in exercise of the revisional jurisdiction particularly when the impugned order suffers from no illegality or material irregularity and dismiss these petitions with no order as to costs.