Arbab Saif Ali Khan etc. Vs Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through Chief Secretary Revenue Peshawar etc.

PESI{AWAR HIGH COURT, PESHAWAR

T FORM C(A))

FORM OF ORDER sHEET.

Court of Case No

Serial No of Date of Order or Order or other proceedings with Signature ofjudge or Magistrate and that order or Proceeding of parties or counsel where necessary proceedine

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WP No.5494-Pl2024.

Present:-

Mr. Saif Ullah Khalil Advocate, - for petitioners.

Syed Sikandar Hayat Shah AAG, alongwith Noor AIam Khan, Director, Land Records, Board of Revenue, KPK, Peshawar and Murad AIi, Assistant Directo r, Land Records.

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WIQAR AHMAD. J:-.Through instant petition under Article I99 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan L973, petitioners have prayed for following relief:

"on acceptance of this writ petition, the respondents moy very kindly be restroined from the impugned proceedings of computerizatton of the revenue record of Moza Tehkal Bala No.I, Peshowor by Services Delivery Center (SDC-L), Peshowar in the computer record till the preparation of final handwritten/ monual jamabandi in which all the owners & their entitlement of ownership & possession be

incorporated in the revenue record \, available with the petitioners in the shape of mutations/ register deeds which is duly mentioned through red ink in the prevailing famabandi for the year 2006-07 so that the entire revenue record be updated & thereafter the some be brought on the computer record to avoid ony doubt entry & no entry shall be left from the computer record & the respondents shall not refuse the above mentioned rights of the petitioners & their refusal to this extent may very kindly be declared illegal, unlawful, ogainst the law & facts & liable to be struck down."

2.According to contents of instant writ petitioo, petitioners claim to have inherited ownership of certain immovable property situated in Mouza Tehkal Bala No.l, District Peshawar, upon the demise of their respective predecessors-in- interest. It has been asserted in petition that the last revenue record in the form of a Fard Jamabandi for said Mouza was prepared during the revenue yeat 2006-07, and that no subsequent Jamabandi has been compiled or issued since then. The petitioners further aver that, despite lapse of considerable time, changes in ownership and title arising from sale, inheritance, or other lawful transactions have not been duly reflected in the revenue records. They claim that numerous transactions involving transfer

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of ownership and cultivation rights have taken \f

place between them and other co-sharers in the property. These transactions, they contend, were required to be incorporated into the manual record prior to the commencement of computerization of the land revenue system. However, these vital changes were allegedly omitted or ignored. It has also been contended that during the process of digitalization of revenue records, entries are being fed into the computerized system primarily from the Perth-e-Sarkar. However, in many cases, material mutations were either found to be missing or were allegedly tampered with, fraudulently removed, or misplaced. This, according to the petitioners, has given rise to multiple litigations before the civil courts, leading to unnecessary hardships and legal uncertainty. Apprehending similar issues in the ongoing computerization process, the petitioners have approached this Court by filing the present writ petition. Their primary prayer is that, before any further steps are taken towards digitalization, the respondents may be directed to first prepare an updated and accurate manual Fard Jamabandi, incorporating all valid and

lawful transactions to date, and only thereafter v proceed with computeri zation of the record

3.In response, the official respondents have submitted their parawise comments. It has been stated therein that the Board of Revenue has established three Service Delivery Centres (SDCs) in District Peshawar for the express purpose of updatirg, amending, and digitizing land records.

These centres are also tasked with providing digitized land ownership documents to the general public in a transparent and efficient manner. It is further submitted that both Perth-e-Sarkar and Perth-e-Patwar have been jointly scrutintzed in the presence of the relevant Patwari, with the objective of removing discrepancies and ambiguities. The respondents maintain that all revenue entries are subject to a verification process prior to being uploaded into the computerized system, with a view to ensuring accurdcy, safeguarding public rights, and preventing future litigation.

4.Arguments heard and record perused.

5.Director Land Record of the Provincial Government appeared in response to our last order dated 07 .04.2025 and contended that process of

Computerization of land record has been completed in the Districts of Marddn, Buner, Kohat, Tank, Shangla, Hangu, Abbottabad, Swabi, all I00% while in District Peshawar same task has been carried to the extent of 99oh, in District Swat to the extent of 90oA, in District Lakki Marwat to the extent of 860 , in District Nowshera 860 , in District Hari Pur 85Yo, in District Bannu 85o , in District Charsadda 80o , in District Battagram to the extent of 79oh, in District D.I. Khan 760A, in District Karak 72% and in District Mansehra to the extent of 5l%. Director, Land Records also informed that the department has target date of 30th June 2026 for completing process of converting Land Records in all those districts, where land settlement had taken place from hard form to soft form and said process shall be completed within time provided to the department i.e, 30th June 2026.

FIe added that although due to certain cuts in US Aid Program, the department has been facing certain short falls in funding of the project however the department would prepare a recommendation and'demand additional funds from the Provincial Government in the upcoming ADP program.

Regarding Mouza Tehkel, Director, Land Records

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informed that record of said Mouzahas been put on web three days before. When asked whether land owners can access record of their land, the worthy Director, Land Records replied that the department was in the process of developing a software application through which access shall be given to the public for reading land record in respect of their property besides adding certain new features for facilitating the general public, in the matters relating to maintaining online record.

In the circumstances, when record of Moza Tehkal has ahready been put on the web, instant petition has become infructuous, which is disposed of accordingly. Substantial progress has alsoi been made in the matter of updating land records online. Maintaining of such land records online would not only aid in proficiency of public sector departments but would also facilitate general public and would go a long way in obviatit g the chances of maneuvering and tempering in land record. Such maneuvering and tempering have been producing a lot of litigation amongst competing parties and also adding burden of the Court. In such .o

circumstances, we feel inclined to send a copy of this order to worthy Chief Secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar, who may further expedite the process of converting record to soft form and maintaining the land record online. He may also expedite the process of giving access of general public to the newly proposed App and shall also explore the feasibility of establishing access point in the premises of all the civil Courts, in the province by deputing responsible Revenue Official who may get copies of the online record and produce same in civil Court in evidence without burdening Patwai Halqa of concerned mauza for putting appearance in civil Courts in person for producing manual record. Civil Courts in the province shall also try their best to procure computerized record from such Services Delivery Centers or access point and would not call Patwari Halqas for production of manual record unless found an indispensable requirement in a particular case. In the latter mentioned case, civil Courts shall pass an express order giving reasons why calling of Patwari Halqa for production of manual record is found to be an indispensable requirement. Such

reasons should be cogetrt, plausible, realistic and

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the process of calling Patwari Halqa for producing manual record in routine should be discontinued forthwith. Worthy Registrar of this Court is directed to circulate a copy of this order amongst all the civil Courts in the province for compliance besides sending a copy thereof to Director General, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy for necessary action at his end also

Announced.

UDGE

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uA.Qayum PS" (DB) Hon'ble Mr. Justice Wiqar & Ms.lustice Faroh Jamshed