Law:

Section:

SALAHUDDIN MIRZA, J.--This appeal is directed against the judgment and decree dated 31-3-1987 passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court in Suit No.68 of 1981. The case of the respondent/plaintiff was that it had acquired an area of 63.13 acres from Pakistan Railways through a rgistered sale deed dated 24th December 1980 and thereafter it had raised a boundary wall around it but on 2nd February 1981 the said wall was demolished by the appellants/defendants. When the respondent contacted the Commissioner Karachi Division and Deputy Commissioner Karachi (East) (appellants Nos. 2 and 3) it transpired that the appellant claimed themselves to be the owner of this land and treated the respondent as an encroacher and, therefore, had demolished the boundary wall without giving any notice to the respondent. According to the respondent-society, the suit land initially was part of K.D.A. Scheme No.24 Gulshan-e-Iqbal and in the same scheme there was some railway land which had been unauthorisedly occupied by K.D.A. whereupon a dispute arose between Pakistan Railways and the K.D.A.and to settle which a high powered meeting was held on 6-2-1980 under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary of Government of Sindh and in which the representatives of the Provincial Government, the Railway Administration and of K.D.A. took part and it was finally decided that since the railway land unautorisedly occpuied by the K.D.A. was no longer available to be returned to the Railways, some other land was to be given to the Railways in lieu thereof and some land was accordingly given to the Pakistan Railways and it was out of it that 63.13 acres of land was given by the Pakistan Railways to the respondent-society. According to the respondents, they were not encroachcrs or unauthorised occupants and the appellants had no right whatsoever to interfere with their possession and demolish the compound wall. erected by them on the land. In their written statement, the

appellants/defendants denied that the suit land was ever owned by Pakistan Railways and, therefore, according to the appellant, the transfer of 63.13 acres of land by Pakistan Railways to the respondent-society was illegal. It was also stated in the written-statement that the suit land was an evacuee property and had not yet been transferred by the Provincial Government to anybody. The appellants justified the demolition of the compound wall without serving th respondent-society with any advance notice on the ground that a trespasser did not require to be served with a notice. On the basis of the above pleadings, the Court had framed the following issues:--