| Citation(s) |
|---|
| 2025 SLG 5364 2025 SLD 5364 = 2025 LHC 7797 |
C.R. No.237987 of 2018
PRESENT; (MALIK WAQAR HAIDER AWAN) JUDGE
Date of Hearing 10.12.2025 The Petitioners by Ch. Riaz Hussain, Advocate
Respondents No.2 to 11 by Ch. Manzoor Ahmad Shakir, Advocate
Respondents No.28 to 31 by Mr. Hussain Ibrahim Muhammad, Asst. Advocate General
Respondents No.1(1 to 8), 12 to 27 Proceeded against ex parte vide order dated 16.06.2023
Muhammad Arshad Mehmood etc.
VS
. Muhammad Bashir (deceased) through L.Rs. etc.
Law: Punjab Consolidation of Holdings Ordinance, 1960
Section: 26
Law: Registration (West Pakistan Amendment) Act, 1967
Section: 53,45
Law: Code Of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Section: 9
SUMMARY
The High Court allowed the civil revision, set aside the concurrent judgments of the courts below, and remanded the suit for fresh decision. It held that the civil courts wrongly declined jurisdiction by mechanically invoking Section 26 of the Punjab Consolidation of Holdings Ordinance, 1960. The dispute did not arise from consolidation proceedings per se but concerned alleged fraudulent deletion of the petitioners’ predecessor’s ownership from subsequent revenue records despite an admitted registered sale deed and sanctioned mutation. No evidence existed to show that the change in record-of-rights was a lawful consequence of consolidation. Questions of title and fraud are within the plenary jurisdiction of civil courts, preserved by Section 9 CPC and Section 53 of the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act, 1967. Statutory bar cannot shield illegality or fraud. The matter was remanded as the courts below failed to properly appreciate evidence and jurisdictional facts.
TAG LINE
Civil court jurisdiction not ousted by consolidation law where title is allegedly lost through fraud.
ORDER;