TASSADUQ HUSSAIN SHAH vs ALLAH DITTA SHAH Ss — 2023 SCMR 1635 SUPREME-COURT

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TASSADUQ HUSSAIN SHAH VS ALLAH DITTA SHAH Ss. 8 & 42---West Pakistan Border Area Regulation 1959 (MLR-9 of 1959), Para. 22---Suit for declaration and possession of immoveable property---'Adna Maliks'---Pursuant to the MLR of 1959, Adna Maliks were declared as owners of the land which they were occupying and tilling---Respondents/plaintiffs filed a suit for declaration and possession, claiming Adna Malkiat of the suit land with the contention that they were in possession of the suit land since their ancestors and were recorded as Adna Maliks in the last Jamabandi of 1943-1944---Respondents further claimed benefit of the MLR of 1959---Suit was contested by the appellants' defendant who stated that the respondents were not Adna Maliks, rather, they were tenants of the appellants and were paying the appellants a share from the produce generated from the suit land---Validity---Appellants had taken a contradictory stance; they have claimed that the respondents were in possession of the suit land as their tenants, and at the same time, before the High Court, the appellants had claimed to be self-cultivating the land---As such, they could not claim in the same breath that the respondents were their tenants in possession and, that the appellants are self-cultivating the land---Further, the appellants had not shown any document from the record which could establish that the respondents were the tenants of the appellants---Appellants had neither produced a tenancy agreement, nor produced any receipts of rent or any witnesses in the lower fora who may have deposed that there existed a landlord-tenant relationship between the parties---There exists documentary evidence on the record, showing cultivating possession of the respondents since before promulgation of the MLR of 1959 which abolished the status of Ala Malkiat and paragraph 22 of the MLR of 1959 read with the Notification of the West Pakistan Land Commission dated 3.3.1960 conferred rights on the respondents who were admittedly in cultivating possession since long and at the relevant time as well, that is, at the time of promulgation of MLR of 1959, which conferred rights on the respondents---Jamabandi of the year 1943-1944 clearly showed that the respondents were paying land revenue and, were recorded in the said Jamabandi as "Basharah Malik Bawajah Nowtor"---Jamabandi in question was an admitted document, and its authenticity had not been challenged on any legally sustainable ground---Jamabandi of 1943-44 predates MLR of 1959 by almost a decade, meaning thereby, that rights had accrued in favour of the respondents as Adna Malikaan even before MLR of 1959 was promulgated---Suit filed by respondents had been rightly decreed---Appeals were dismissed.

TASSADUQ HUSSAIN SHAH vs ALLAH DITTA SHAH Ss — 2023 SCMR 1635 SUPREME-COURT

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