Secretary Board of Revenue v. Qadir Bakhsh,
CLC 2012 1165 · Balochistan High Court
This case involved a land dispute in Balochistan between the provincial government (Board of Revenue) and private individuals (the Qadir Bakhsh family) over ownership of a piece of land. The private respondents claimed they had long cultivated the land, that a well on it was already registered in their name, and that officials had wrongly recorded a mutation entry transferring the land elsewhere without their knowledge. They only discovered this entry shortly before filing suit and sought correction plus a declaration of ownership. The trial court and the appellate court (Majlis-e-Shoora Mekran) both ruled in their favor.
The government challenged this in the High Court, arguing the case was decided without properly weighing the evidence, and importantly, that the original suit had been filed years after the mutation entry was made—beyond the legal time limit for filing such a case. The Court agreed that limitation was a serious issue: if a suit is filed too late, it cannot succeed regardless of its merits, and plaintiffs must clearly prove they were genuinely unaware of the disputed entry earlier. The Court also reaffirmed that mere possession of land doesn't establish ownership, and that mutation entries are not proof of title—they can be challenged with strong evidence. However, the government’s own appeal to the appellate court had been filed late, and the Court held that "administrative procedure" is not an acceptable excuse for delay, so that appeal was dismissed as time-barred. This ruling underscores that limitation laws apply equally to government bodies and private citizens, and that courts must rigorously ass
یہ مقدمہ بلوچستان میں صوبائی حکومت (بورڈ آف ریونیو) اور نجی افراد (قادر بخش خاندان) کے درمیان ایک زمین کے تنازع سے متعلق تھا، جس کا محور اس زمین کی ملکیت کا سوال تھا۔ نجی مدعا علیہان کا دعویٰ تھا کہ وہ ایک عرصے سے اس زمین پر کاشتکاری کر رہے ہیں، اس پر موجود کنواں پہلے ہی ان کے نام رجسٹرڈ ہے، اور یہ کہ متعلقہ افسران نے ان کی لاعلمی میں غلط طور پر ایک انتقال درج کر کے زمین کسی اور کے نام منتقل کر دی۔ ان کا کہنا تھا کہ انہیں اس اندراج کا علم دعویٰ دائر کرنے سے کچھ ہی عرصہ قبل ہوا، جس پر انہوں نے اس کی تصحیح اور اپنی ملکیت کے اعلان کے لیے عدالت سے رجوع کیا۔ ٹرائل کورٹ اور اپیلٹ کورٹ (مجلسِ شوریٰ مکران)، دونوں نے ان کے حق میں فیصلہ دیا۔
حکومت نے اس فیصلے کو ہائی کورٹ میں چیلنج کیا اور مؤقف اختیار کیا کہ مقدمے کا فیصلہ شواہد کا مناسب جائزہ لیے بغیر کیا گیا، اور سب سے اہم بات یہ کہ اصل دعویٰ انتق