2021 YLR 2278 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDH

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MUHAMMAD TOBRIA VS The BOARD OF TRUSTEE Ss. 42 & 54---Civil Procedure Code (V of 1908), O. VII, R. 11---Karachi Port Trust Act (VI of 1886), S. 87---Transfer of Property Act (IV of 1882), Ss. 105 & 107---Easements Act (V of 1882), Ss. 52 & 54---Suit for declaration and permanent injunction---Limitation of suits---Rejection of plaint---Lease---Licence---Leases how made---Grant of licence may be express or implied---Scope---Applicants assailed the rejection of their plaints in suits for declaration and permanent injunction in respect of their respective properties---Applicants had filed an application for extension of "lease" before the Karachi Port Trust and was declined, followed by issuance of notice of eviction, which led to filing of suits---Trial Court rejected the plaints on the ground that suits were barred under S. 87 of Karachi Port Trust Act, 1886 and that no action could have been initiated against any official of the Karachi Port Trust in respect of anything done or purported to have been done in pursuance of the Act without giving to such person one month's previous notice in writing of the intended suit and of the cause thereof, nor after six months from the accrual of the cause of such suits---Validity---Licences on which respondents were relying had expired somewhere in 2013---Karachi Port Trust, after expiry of alleged licenses, had starting receiving the amount as "lease money"---Margin line between a lease and license was very thin and irrespective of as to what was defined in the documents itself, it was the intention of the parties which could ultimately determine relationship and status---Since rental receipts were issued for a lease period, therefore, notice under S.87 of the Karachi Port Trust Act for eviction could not be read to have been issued in pursuance of the Act as a lessee could not be evicted without due process of law---Such action was not deemed to have been taken or purported to have been taken under the said Act---Trial Court should have commenced the trial and disposed of the lis in accordance with law---Cases were remanded to the Trial Court for decision on merits.