PHC directs authorities to lease out Auqaf land or expel tenants

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the authorities concerned to retrieve the 36,000 kanals of land of the Auqaf Department in Kaloshah area in Mardan or lease it out within fortnight and submit a report in the court accordingly.

A division bench of the PHC comprising Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal while hearing the contempt of court petition of the Auqaf Department observed that income from the land in question should have been spent on the poor but the government had not received a single penny from it during the last 40 years due to these disputes.

“We just want implementation of Supreme Court’s verdict to either strike a deal for lease with the current land holders or expel them and the land should be reclaimed,” Justice SM Attique Shah remarked.

Advocate General Shah Faisal Uthmankhel, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Acting Chief Secretary Abid Majeed, Auqaf Secretary Adil Siddique, Mardan Commissioner Muhammad Ayaz and Yasir Salim advocate represented the provincial government and Auqaf, respectively. Aminur Rahman Yousafzai advocate pleaded the case for the tenants.

Abid Majeed informed the bench that they had presented the issue of this land before the provincial cabinet soon after the court issued the directives for the same.He said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet had also given nod for the implementation of the SC verdict regarding the disputed land in letter and spirit.

He maintained that the land would be leased to the current occupants or else they would be expelled if they did not want it on lease.A committee headed by Mardan commissioner had been constituted to find out modus operandi for leasing out the land within fortnight as per Lease Act, he added.

He also told the bench that the government had also devised a strategy for expelling the occupants and reclaiming the land.The AG informed the bench that they would present the lease in the court and everything would be clear and simple before everyone.

Muhammad Iqbal, a tenant, told the court that he was a party in the case and a claimant of lease of the land after the death of his brother.He said that they were ready for the lease but had some differences with the Auqaf Department over certain matters.The court asked the lawyer for tenants to look into the matter as all were bound to implement the SC verdict in letter and spirit.