Punjab gets relief in Murree land case

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has granted significant relief to the Punjab government, dismissing appeals filed against the cancellation of the allotment of 577 kanals of land in Murree.

The court further directed that possession of the land—valued at over Rs40 billion—be handed over to the Punjab government. A two-member bench headed by Justice Aamer Farooq heard the appeals.

During the proceedings, counsel for the petitioners argued that the allotment could not be declared unlawful after several decades. He contended that the law under which the allotment had been invalidated did not even exist at the time the land was originally allotted.

Punjab's Advocate General, Wasim Mumtaz Malik, submitted that under the settlement scheme only agricultural land could be allotted, whereas the land in question falls within an urban area.