PHC directs authorities not to harass tenants of Auqaf land

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the relevant authorities to complete the profiling of 36,000 kanal of land of the Auqaf Department in the Kaloshah area of Mardan and asked them that small landowners should not be harassed unnecessarily.

A two-member bench of the PHC comprising Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah heard the petition filed by tenants through their counsels Aminur Rahman Yousafzai and Nasir Mahmood.

Administrator of Auqaf Department, Yousaf Ali, and the additional deputy commissioner of Mardan appeared in court.The additional deputy commissioner informed the court that the profiling of 36,000 kanal of land in Mardan was in progress. He added that the survey of 10,000 kanal of land had been conducted, and that of the remaining 26,000 kanal was underway.

The survey, he argued, would identify agricultural, commercial, and uncultivated land. After the survey, he maintained that lease agreements would be signed between the parties. A monthly report was also presented to the court as per its order.

Earlier, the petitioners’ lawyers informed the court that the sugarcane season was currently going on, and there were 140 landowners, who were being harassed on one pretext or the other.

He said the administration was now exploiting small landholders with lease agreements.However, the Auqaf administrator assured the court that all matters were being handled according to the law, and no injustice would be meted out to any tenant.

Lease agreements would be made after the completion of the land profiling, he concluded.The bench after adjourning the hearing in the case, directed that before the next hearing, the profiling of the land should be completed, the lease agreements should begin, and small landowners should not be harassed but provided with facilities.