| Citation(s) |
|---|
| 2025 SLG 603 2025 SLD 603 = 2025 SCP 67 = 2025 SCMR 787 |
Supreme Appellate Court, Pakistan
Crl. P.L.A No.504 of 2021
PRESENT: Mr. Justice Salahuddin Panhwar Mr. Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim
For the Petitioner(s): Mr. Muhammad Ilyas Siddiqi, ASC. For the State: Mr. Irfan Zia, APG. Date of hearing: 19.02.2025
Crl. P.L.A No.504 of 2021
PRESENT: Mr. Justice Salahuddin Panhwar Mr. Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim
For the Petitioner(s): Mr. Muhammad Ilyas Siddiqi, ASC. For the State: Mr. Irfan Zia, APG. Date of hearing: 19.02.2025
Al-Haaj Malik Muhammad Ashraf.
VS
. Javed Akhtar and another.
Law: Constitution of Pakistan, 1973
Section: 185(3)
Law: Illegal Dispossession Act, 2005
Section: 3,4,7,8
Summary of the Judgment:
Case Background:
- Petitioner Al-Haaj Malik Muhammad Ashraf filed a criminal complaint under the Illegal Dispossession Act, 2005, alleging that respondents Javed Akhtar and Sohail Akhtar unlawfully occupied his 12-marla plot in Talagang, Chakwal.
- The Additional Sessions Judge convicted and sentenced the respondents in 2019.
- However, the Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi Bench, overturned the conviction and acquitted the respondents in Criminal Appeal No. 588 of 2019.
- The petitioner sought leave to appeal in the Supreme Court against this acquittal.
Key Findings of the Supreme Court:
- The respondents are co-owners of the disputed property.
- The exact demarcation of the property remains unresolved, and partition proceedings are still pending in the civil court.
- Witnesses, including a vendor and a Tehsildar, confirmed that the property was jointly owned and not exclusively possessed by the petitioner.
- Co-owners are deemed to have constructive possession of the entire joint property unless a formal partition has been completed.
- The Illegal Dispossession Act, 2005, does not apply to co-owners, as confirmed by past Supreme Court rulings (Shaikh Muhammad Naseem vs Mst. Farida Gul 2016 SCMR 1931 and Niaz Ahmed vs Aijaz Ahmed PLD 2024 SC 1152).
Legal Principles Applied: