What's new

Army handed over 45,000 acres for corporate farming

ghazi52

PDF THINK TANK: ANALYST
Mar 21, 2007
95,952
104
154,020
Country
Pakistan
Location
United States
,.,..

LHC halts implementation of Punjab govt’s order to hand over 45,000 acres of land to army

Rana Bilal
March 31, 2023

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has stopped the caretaker government of Punjab from handing over at least 45,267 acres of land in three districts — Bhakkar, Khushab, and Sahiwal — of the province to the Pakistan Army for “Corporate Agriculture Farming”, it emerged on Friday.

On Thursday, a two-page verdict — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — was issued by Judge Abid Hussain Chattha over a petition filed by Ahmad Rafay Alam on March 28 on behalf of Public Interest Law Association of Pakistan.

About two weeks ago, the Punjab government had signed an agreement to hand over the land to the army, referring to a notification dated Feb 20, 2023 and a joint venture agreement of March 8.

According to the verdict, the LHC has barred the Punjab caretaker government from extending any “lease of state land” for the above-mentioned purpose as per the government’s notification.

Noting that the points raised by the petitioner “need consideration”, the LHC issued notices to the respondents for May 9 and asked them to submit a response by then.

It also sent notices to the Attorney-General for Pakistan and Punjab Advocate General Shan Gul.

The petition​

The petition filed by Alam had named Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman, the Punjab Board of Revenue, the Punjab agriculture secretary, the Punjab forest, wildlife and fisheries secretary, the Punjab irrigation secretary and the Punjab livestock & dairy development secretary among the respondents.

It had asked that the LHC declare the caretaker government “cannot take major policy decisions” and also declare the Feb 20 notification as “illegal, null and void”.

Citing a letter dated March 10 that was issued to the Punjab Board of Revenue, it had further asked that the “handing over of any and all properties/land by and between the respondents” be declared “illegal, null and void” as well.
 

knightmare

FULL MEMBER

New Recruit

Mar 7, 2013
96
-1
70
Country
India
Location
France
Shekhar Gupta had reported that ask is in fact for a million acres of land for 'farming' & 45k acres is just a POC. Is that true?
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)


Top Bottom