PHC stops land acquisition process for PAF University

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday restrained the government officials from further proceedings for acquiring land for the Pakistan Air Force University in the Swabi district till the next order of the court.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Lal Jan Khattak issued the restraining order in a writ petition of the owners of the land being acquired for the establishment of the university.

The court issued the order in a writ petition filed by 33 landowners through lawyer Muhammad Ayaz Khan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through secretary/Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR), Commissioner of Peshawar, Deputy Commissioner of Swabi district, Tehsildar Circle, Patwari and Girdawar Circle Tehsil Lahor, Swabi, were made parties to the petition.

The lawyer submitted that as per the petitioners, a villager Waqar Ahmad, with the connivance of the revenue officials of Lahor tehsil of the Swabi district, executed forged and fictitious deed on behalf of the petitioners (landowners) for attestation of mutation in favour of Pakistan Air Force University of 1,000 Kanal of land, because the petitioners were not willing to provide land without compensation.

He submitted that petitioners Rahamdad, Kamdar and Inayat Hussain, being law abiding citizens, filed an application under Section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code for registration of an FIR against Waqar for the fraud.

The petitioners stated in the petition that some landowners, including Sardar Bahadar, Shaukat, Saeed Khan and Qamar Zaman also filed civil suits. They challenged the validity of the deed as the revenue authority, upon the alleged pressure of the KP Assembly speaker, prepared the forged and fictitious deed.

It said that after violation of the legal process pertaining to the attestation of alleged illegal mutation No1,372 in favour of the university through forged deed on behalf of those people who are abroad, some of the petitioners filed partition suits before the Revenue Authority at Tehsil Lahor in Swabi, which were dismissed.

It was stated that the Khasra and Khata numbers already mentioned in the mutation No1,372 attested in favour of the university to the extent of 1,000 kanals through fictitious and forged Waseeqa Jat/deeds are illegal and against the law and fundamental rights of the citizens.