Syed ANJUM KAMAL ZAIDI vs GOVERNMENT OF THE PUNJAB, through Secretary Local Government and Community Developme

Fields are extracted from the reported citation and judgment text. Where a detail is not stated in the record, it is not shown.

Syed ANJUM KAMAL ZAIDI VS GOVERNMENT OF THE PUNJAB, through Secretary Local Government and Community Development, Lahore Rr.60, 65(2), 67(1) & 67(2)---Constitution of Pakistan, Art.24---Constitutional petition---Demand of payment of conversion fee, challenge to---Properties of petitioners facing/abutting roads notified as "List-A"---Effect---Plea that it confers automatic conversion thus demand for conversion fee was unjustified---Legality---Facts: The petitioners owned/occupied properties stated to be facing or abutting roads notified as "List-A" under notification dated 30.06.2011 (issued under the Punjab Land Use (Classification, Reclassification and Redevelopment) Rules, 2009, later substituted by the 2020 Rules), whereby, future commercial activity was made permissible by virtue of that very notification, therefore they agitated that they were not liable to pay the conversion fee; through filing of present constitutional petition they challenged the municipal/local government demand requiring payment of conversion/commercialization fee for using (or intending to use) those properties for commercial purposes---Issue: "Whether a commercialization/conversion fee can be charged on aproperty abutting a notified List-A road?"---Held: Claim of absolute privilege to make use of the properties for commercial purposes without payment of conversion fee was not spelled out from the notification dated 30.06.2011---Properties, abutting / facing list-A category roads, were declared eligible for potential commercial use not per se by virtue of declaration but subject to payment of conversion fee---Pertinent question was "whether mere declaration, through notification, changed the legal character of the properties in question"; No; mere declaration of notified roads did not alter the legal character of each property specifically but it simply defined the eligibility benchmark, vis-à-vis properties qualified for carrying commercial activity subject to the payment of conversion fee---In essence, declaration of roads in list-A for future commercial use removed planning prohibitions and restrictions, that previously existed in the context of commercial use of properties and subjected it to payment of conversion fee---Land use conversion from one category to another was in the nature of an invitation by the administration to those persons, ready and willing to apply for seeking permission to convert legal status / character of their properties, subject to payment of conversion fee---Petitioners misjudged the scope and effect of the notification, which was merely an enabling step and not a self-executing commercialization order qua any specific property---No vested right was available to the petitioners to seek excuse from payment of conversion fee---Obligation of payment of conversion price was inconsonance with the mandate of property rights guaranteed in terms of Art.24 of the Constitution---Mere zoning or re-zoning of roads did not per seen title petitioners to benefit from the declaration without meeting the conditions---Challenge thrown to the order and demand for payment of conversion fee was rejected---Constitutional petitions were dismissed, in circumstances.

Syed ANJUM KAMAL ZAIDI vs GOVERNMENT OF THE PUNJAB, through Secretary Local Government and Community Development, Lahore Rr — 2026 CLC 693 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

Case information

Judgment text as reported

Other judgments reported in 2026 CLC