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 \u201cCorporate Agriculture Farming\u201d, it emerged on Friday.
\nOn Thursday, a two-page verdict 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.
\nAbout 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.
\nAccording to the verdict, the LHC has barred the Punjab caretaker government from extending any \u201clease of state land\u201d for the above-mentioned purpose as per the government\u2019s notification.
\nNoting that the points raised by the petitioner \u201cneed consideration\u201d, the LHC issued notices to the respondents for May 9 and asked them to submit a response by then.
\nIt also sent notices to the Attorney-General for Pakistan and Punjab Advocate General Shan Gul.
\nThe 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.
\nIt had asked that the LHC declare the caretaker government \u201ccannot take major policy decisions\u201d and also declare the Feb 20 notification as \u201cillegal, null and void\u201d.
\nCiting a letter dated March 10 that was issued to the Punjab Board of Revenue, it had further asked that the \u201chanding over of any and all properties\/land by and between the respondents\u201d be declared \u201cillegal, null and void\u201d as well.
\nIt had argued that the transfer of land was unlawful because Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman \u201cis not vested with any power to sanction the said notification\u201d, the LHC verdict recalled.
\nThe verdict stated the petitioner \u2014 citing Section 230 (functions of caretaker government) of the Election Act 2017\u2014 had said the \u201cmandate and scope of the caretaker government is limited to perform day-to-day functions of the government and is specifically barred to take policy decisions of permanent nature\u201d.
\nThe petition had also contended that the constitutional mandate restricts Army to perform functions of external and internal security and does not extend to \u201cCorporate Agriculture Farming\u201d \u2014 the intended purpose as per the government\u2019s notification.
\nAccording to informed sources, the agreement had been signed between the military, the Punjab government, and private firms dealing with corporate farming.
\nAccording to the document, the military\u2019s land directorate wrote to the Punjab chief secretary, Board of Revenue and secretaries of the agriculture, forest, livestock and irrigation departments for handing over of 42,724-acre land in tehsils Kaloor Kot and Mankera in Bhakkar, 1,818 acres in tehsils Quaidabad and Khushab in Khushab, and 725 acres in tehsil Chichawatni of Sahiwal.
\nSpeaking about the salient features of the proposed project, informed sources had said that the Punjab government will provide the land while the army will utilise its resources and retain the management of the project.
\nThe private sector, on the other hand, is to invest and provide auxiliary support, including the supply of fertilisers.
\nMilitary sources had confirmed this development and said that the army was \u201cnot taking over the ownership of the land as it will remain the property\u201d of the Punjab government.
\nThey had further said that the army would convert the mostly barren, uncultivated, and under-cultivated land into fertile land.
\nAt least 40 per cent of the revenue generated from the cultivation was to go to the Punjab government, 20pc to be spent on modern research and development in the agriculture sector, while the remaining was to be used for the succeeding crops and expansion of the project.
\nAccording to the sources, in the first phase of the project, different varieties of pulses, millets and rice were to be cultivated. This would be followed by large-scale cultivation of canola and wheat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 \u201cCorporate Agriculture Farming\u201d, it emerged on Friday. On Thursday, a two-page verdict was issued by Judge Abid Hussain Chattha […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[1669],"class_list":{"0":"post-323014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"tag-lhc"},"yoast_head":"\n