GOVERNMENT OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA through Secretary Forest Department at Peshawar vs GUL AMBAR Ss

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GOVERNMENT OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA through Secretary Forest Department at Peshawar VS GUL AMBAR Ss. 92 & 93---Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Land Revenue Act (XVII of 1967), S. 53---Specific Relief Act (I of 1877), Ss. 42, 54 & 55---Suit for declaration, perpetual and mandatory injunction---Suit for declaration filed by persons aggrieved by an entry in a record---Bar of jurisdiction of Civil Court---Jurisdiction of Forest Magistrates---Scope---Plaintiffs brought a suit for declaration-cum-perpetual/mandatory injunction and for correction of entries made in the revenue record on the ground that they were the ancestral owners-in-possession of the suit property as their predecessor had purchased the property through registered deeds---Defendants straightaway submitted an application for rejection of plaint on the ground that suit property was a protected forest and the jurisdiction of civil court was barred under S. 92 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Ordinance, 2002---Trial Court accepted the application, however, the Appellate Court remanded the case to Trial Court for decision on merits---Validity---Defendants had challenged the entries made in the revenue record under S. 53 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Land Revenue Act, 1967 and as such the suit was fully competent---Combined reading of Ss. 92 & 93 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Ordinance, 2002, clarified that jurisdiction of Civil Court was barred in relation to any matters relating to implementation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Ordinance, 2002 or rules made thereunder and the issues arising out of such implementation were required to be exclusively dealt with by a Forest Magistrate---In other words, when certain steps were taken by the officers of Forest Department for implementation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Ordinance, 2002, then such steps could not be called in question in any Civil Court---Civil Court had jurisdiction to entertain the plaint and to proceed with the same in accordance with law---Revision petition was dismissed.

GOVERNMENT OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA through Secretary Forest Department at Peshawar vs GUL AMBAR Ss — 2023 PLD 60 PESHAWAR-HIGH-COURT

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