Law:

Section:

Canal and Drainage Act (VIII of 1873)--- ----S. 20---Specific Relief Act (I of 1877), S.42---Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908), O.XXXIX, Rr.1 & 2---Suit for declaration and grant of temporary injunction---Divisional Canal Officer had accepted defendant's application for sanction of new outlet and forwarded the case to Superintending Canal Officer for confirmation---Case remained pending with the canal authorities for nine years whereafter the successor Superintending Canal Officer confirmed the order of Divisional Canal Officer without adverting to the observations made by his predecessor---Aggrieved by said order, plaintiff filed a suit for declaration and application for grant of temporary injunction to stay the sanction of outlet---Both Trial and Appellate Court dismissed the application for injunction---Validity---Plaintiffs contended that both lower courts had decided the application without recording their evidence despite the fact that the canal authorities neither conducted on spot inquiries nor issued notices to the concerned landowners before passing the impugned order as required by S.20 of Canal and Drainage Act, 1873---Plaintiffs had sufficient cause to suffer irreparable loss---Balance of convenience also lay in favour of plaintiffs who should have been served notices---Application for injunction was allowed by High Court and orders passed by courts below were set aside with a direction to lower court to decide the case within four months. Mrs. Shahzadi Babar v. Hina Housing Project (Pvt.) Ltd. and others 1994 CLC 1601; Asif Khan Shamim v. The Government of Sindh and others 1996 CLC 456; Mian Muhammad Latif v. Province of West Pakistan through the Deputy Commissioner, Khairpur and another PLD 1970 SC 180; Ghazanfar Khan and others v. Taj Muhammad and others 1970 SCMR 139; Badar Din v. Bahandur Ali and others PLD 1968 Lah. 573; Muhammad Saeed and others v. Fateh Muhammad and others PLD 1962 (W.P.) Lah. 317 and Khan Muhammad and another v. Munawar Hussain and another 2002 CLC 333 ref. Patras Masih v. Province of Punjab and others 2008 MLD 106 rel. Muhammad Hanif Niazi for Petitioners. Anwar Spira for Respondents Nos. 6 to 8. Muhammad Azeem…