Federal Constitutional Court sets guidelines to curb land case delays

The Federal Constitutional Court on Thursday issued guiding principles for revenue authorities, particularly the Punjab Board of Revenue, aimed at preventing land consolidation disputes from dragging on for decades, after noting that one such case had been entangled in proceedings for around 40 years.

A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan heard petitions against a Lahore High Court order dated 26 September 2024, Business Recorder reported. According to the record cited by the bench, consolidation proceedings that began in 1979 remained caught in successive administrative and judicial proceedings for several decades.

The court said in its judgment that such protracted litigation defeats the very object of consolidation and carries adverse implications for the proprietary rights of landowners, according to the reports. Dawn reported that the court expressed concern over a delay of about 40 years in the case and its effect on the ownership rights of the people involved.

The bench directed revenue authorities to avoid unnecessary adjournments and to record reasons whenever a delay cannot be avoided.

Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan observed that lengthy lawsuits defeat the purpose of land consolidation and undermine property rights, Dawn reported. Consolidation proceedings are meant to bring together scattered land holdings so that owners can cultivate and manage them more easily; cases that run for decades leave ownership unresolved in the meantime.

The reports did not reproduce the full text of the guiding principles, and it was not immediately clear from them whether the directions apply to revenue authorities across the country or are framed chiefly for the Punjab Board of Revenue, which was named in the case. The bench's spelling of the chief justice's name also appeared as Amin-ud-Din in Business Recorder's account of the hearing.

The judgment follows a series of directions by the court on the working of revenue machinery, and comes as litigants in land matters continue to face long waits in both the revenue hierarchy and the regular courts.