Sir Skindar Hayat’s granddaughter’s plea: LHC orders Sargodha commissioner to cancel land mutation

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday ordered the Sargodha commissioner to cancel two mutations of 297 Kanals fraudulently taken back by the husband of the granddaughter of Sir Sikandar Hayat, former prime minister of pre-Partition Punjab, and transfer the same in the name of the woman and also hand over possession of the land to her.

Justice Masud Abid Naqvi directed both Lalarukh Hayat, the granddaughter of Sir Hayat, and her husband Aslam Hayat Qureshi to appear before the commissioner on February 23 where the latter would facilitate the process of the cancellation of the forged mutations and handing over the possession to the former as undertaken by him before the Supreme Court. The judge observed that any further proceedings on a civil revision petition by Qureshi would be held once both parties fully implement the agreement they signed before the apex court.

As per the agreement, Qureshi is liable to cancel the mutations of the land measuring 297 Kanals in Sargodha, which he had got transferred to his name with forgery, and transfer it back in the name of his wife. Once the husband fulfils his commitment, Ms Hayat, as per the settlement, would record her statement before a trial court in favour of the acquittal of her husband and other suspects in an FIR the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) had registered against them.

Justice Naqvi directed Ms Hayat to appear before the trial court on Feb 25 for her statement as per the agreement. The ACE-Sargodha had registered the FIR on Nov 11, 2019, against Aslam Hayat Qureshi, his brother-in-law Munir Qureshi and officials of the Revenue Department including the Patwari concerned for preparing bogus documents of the property owned by Lalarukh Hayat. A special judge of the ACE and the Lahore High Court had dismissed pre-arrest bail of Qureshi and other suspects.

The SC had advised the parties to settle the matter amicably as there was little chance of relief in the bail on merits since an expert of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency had declared that the signatures of Ms Hayat were forged. The husband agreed to the out-of-court-settlement to avoid going behind the bars and undertook to cancel the mutations of the property from his name and transfer the same to his wife. The SC had allowed pre-arrest bail to the suspects as a result of the compromise reached on Dec 24, 2020. The husband, however, kept delaying the implementation of the agreement and filed a civil revision petition before the LHC regarding the land in question.

During Wednesday's hearing, Hayat’s counsel Zubair Khalid told the court Qureshi had not fulfilled his undertaking given before the SC and preferred the civil revision petition. Justice Naqvi directed both sides to first implement the compromise in letter and spirit before going further in the case. Qureshi had gifted the land to his wife in 1975. However, their relationship got strained after several decades and the husband prepared fake documents with forged signatures of the complainant to take back the land. Ms Hayat came to know that the land ownership had been changed back to her husband`s name when she approached the Patwari for the ownership documents. Later, the ACE, on her information, conducted an inquiry and found the officials of the Revenue Department guilty of preparing bogus documents in connivance with Qureshi and other suspects. Finally, the ACE lodged the FIR against all the suspects for committing forgery and preparing bogus documents. The trial is pending before the special judge of Sargodha.