Interim Punjab govt lacks mandate to give land to army: LHC

The Lahore High Court has ruled that the caretaker Punjab government lacked the constitutional mandate to hand over around one million acres of state land to the army for corporate agriculture farming.

LHC’s Justice Abid Hussain Chattha noted in his detailed verdict issued on Wednesday that neither the caretaker Punjab government nor the armed forces of Pakistan had the constitutional or legal authority to engage in corporate farming.

The judge wrote that any land allotted to the military for corporate farming be returned to the Punjab government.

He added that necessary steps should be taken to sensitise each member of the armed forces regarding its constitutional and legal mandate and the consequences of possible violations.

“The argument that the Caretaker Cabinet was merely implementing an already approved CAF [corporate agriculture farming] initiative of the previously Elected Government in furtherance of ‘in principle’ approval of the latter is a mere fantasy. Hence, the approval of the new SOCs [Statement of Conditions] by the Caretaker Cabinet was unlawful and of no legal effect,” the verdict read.

“The Army Act has been promulgated for the effective operation and functioning of the Pakistan Army and is employed to run the institution. There is no provision therein which allows the Pakistan Army to undertake any function beyond the prescribed constitutional mandate in Article 245 of the Constitution,” it continued.

“It is declared that the Armed Forces including the Pakistan Army and/or its subordinate or attached Departments/offices lack constitutional and legal mandate to indulge and participate in CAF initiative and policy in terms of Article 245 of the Constitution,” the judgment noted.

The court directed that a certified copy of this judgment should be transmitted to the federal government through the cabinet division secretary; defence ministry secretary; chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee; COAS; chief of the naval staff; and chief of the air staff.

A notification issued by the GHQ Land Directorate on March 10 read that 45,267 acres of farm land had been handed over to Pakistan Army in different districts of Punjab.

The GHQ Land Directorate wrote to the Punjab chief secretary, Board of Revenue and Agriculture, forest, livestock and irrigation departments secretaries for handing over of 42,724 acres in Kaloor Kot and Mankera tehsils in Bhakkar, 1,818 acres in Quaidabad and Khushab tehsils in Khushab, and 725 acres in Chichawatni tehsil of Sahiwal.

The letter referred to a notification of the Punjab government dated February 20, 2023, and a joint venture agreement signed on March 8.

Following this development, the caretaker set-up in Punjab immediately signed a pact with the army to hand over the land it had mentioned in its letter to it.

On March 30, the LHC issued a two-page verdict, stopping the province’s caretaker government from extending any “lease of state land” for this purpose.