PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the concerned authorities to complete the profiling of 36,000 kanals of land belonging to the Awqaf Department in Kalushah area of Mardan, saying that the small landowners should not be harassed unnecessarily. .
A two-member PHC bench comprising Justice SM Atiq Shah and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah heard the petition filed by the tenants through their lawyers Aminur Rehman Yousafzai and Nasir Mehmood.
Administrator of Awqaf Department Yusuf Ali and Additional Deputy Commissioner Mardan appeared in the court, Additional Deputy Commissioner told the court that profiling of 36 thousand kanals of land in Mardan is ongoing. He further said that the survey of 10 thousand kanals of land has been done, the survey of the remaining 26 thousand kanals is ongoing.
He said that agricultural, commercial and uncultivated lands will be identified in the survey. After the survey, he maintained that a lease agreement would be signed between the parties. As per the order of the court, the monthly report was also submitted.
Earlier, the petitioners’ lawyers told the court that the sugarcane season is going on and there are 140 landlords who are being harassed on one or the other pretext.
He said that the administration is now exploiting the small landowners through lease agreements. However, the endowment administrator assured the court that all matters were being dealt with according to law, and no tenant would be treated unfairly.
Lease agreements will be entered into after land profiling is completed. After adjourning the case, the bench directed that before the next hearing, profiling of the land should be completed, lease agreements should be initiated, and facilities should not be harassed to the small landowners.