Settlement record will remain impounded with DC Lower Chitral: PHC

PESHAWAR: A division bench of Peshawar High Court (PHC), consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Shakeel Ahmad, on Wednesday ordered that the settlement record of Chitral will remain impounded with the deputy commissioner Lower Chitral till the decision on a petition filed in the court by the people of Chitral.

At the last hearing of the case, people of Chitral versus the federation of Pakistan and others on 17th May 2022, the advocate general Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shumail Butt had contended that the government wanted to terminate the services of over 200 Patwaris in Chitral which it could not do in view of the stay order issued in the case and the high court should accordingly vacate the stay.
On behalf of the petitioners, it was contended by Barrister Asad-ul-Mulk that the stay order had been procured for the benefit of the 0eople of Chitral in respect of their proprietary rights and had nothing to do with retaining or terminating the services of
patwaris which was an altogether different issue.
He further stated that the retention or termination of the services of 200 patwaris was the government’s prerogative and the
advocate general was unnecessarily trying to connect two completely separate issues.
It was insisted on behalf of the petitioners that their purpose in securing the stay was to ensure that the settlement record is not handed over to the Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR) prior to the final
adjudication in the case.
The apprehension was that if the settlement record is moved out of Chitral then even if the petition of the people of Chitral is allowed the record would never be rectified and moving the record back to Chitral would prove to be a herculean task which will frustrate the purpose of the case, even if judicially achieved.
The division bench then ordered that the settlement record will remain impounded with the deputy commissioner Lower Chitral till the decision of the case.
The application of the petitioners for the case to be heard by a larger bench of the high court was turned down. This means that the case will continue to be heard by a division
bench consisting of two judges.

The case was adjourned to 5th July 2022.

Following the proceedings, news started to circulate on media that that services of the 200 patwaris working in Chitral had been regularized by the government.

It appears that the statement of the advocate general before the high court regarding the inability of the Government to terminate the services of 200 patwaris in view of the stay, and consequently the need to have the stay vacated was merely a ploy to have the stay vacated and the settlement record handed over to the SMBR, which request was not acceded to by the court.