LAHORE: Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi of Lahore High Court on Friday allowed petitions of five cooperative housing societies and set aside acquisition of their lands by Lahore Development Authority (LDA) for its own housing scheme called LDA Avenue-I. Justice Lodhi observed that the members of the petitioners’ societies were purchasers of the shares of the society and their shares could, in no way, be subject matter of land acquisition proceedings. He observed that the direct issuance of notification under Section 17(4) of the Act, by dispensing with the requirements as provided in Section 5 and 5-A of the Act was again a nullity in the eye of law, for, the collector and the acquiring agency failed to demonstrate as to the emergent nature of the affair. The judge observed that it was an established fact that in almost all the schemes of the petitioners’ societies, development process had been completed, allotments had been made and in some schemes, some houses by the members had already been constructed when the LDA intended to acquire their land. He held that by insertion of Article 10-A in the constitution, fair trial had been taken as a fundamental and basic right of the citizens and depriving any interested person from raising any objection as to his intended deprivation from his any right, would be an act, which can conveniently be termed as violative to the concept of fair trial. Justice Lodhi observed that the LHC had already held that dispensing with the requirement of raising objection by the landowners as against the intended process of land acquisition is in fact a classic example of misuse of the state machinery for the benefit of individuals, which was against the basic purpose of Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The LHC had held that the Land Acquisition Act was based on the rule to rob Peter to pay Paul and there was no scope for such type of action in the Islamic state as the same offended the injunctions of Islam. The rule to enrich privileged one at the cost of poor was legacy of imperialism and had no place in an ideological State like Pakistan. Judge allowed the petitions and set aside the notifications issued under Section 4 and then under Section 17(4) read with Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1984, and the process initiated by the respondent authorities for the acquisition of the land of the petitioners. The petitioners’ societies had challenged the acquisition of their lands under the Land Acquisition Act 1894. Petitioners’ counsel submitted that the LDA had launched the Avenue-I housing society in December 2002 and for the purpose acquired petitioners land. He said that the LDA acquired 14,458 kanal and 9 marla land of Chiniot Cooperative Housing Society, 328 kanal of Islamic Research Scholars Cooperative Housing Society Limited, 320 kanal of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME) Cooperative Housing Society Limited, 182 kanal of Punjab Board of Revenue Employees Cooperative Housing Society Limited and 300 kanal of Punjab Civil Secretariat Employees Cooperative Housing Society. He said that they all were registered cooperative societies and acquired or entered into agreement to acquire the landed property, mainly for the purposes of accommodating their respective members. He submitted that the land which was already earmarked for a specific purpose would not again be acquired in the garb of “public purpose” by providing the same facility of residential plots to the contributors for LDA Avenue-I Scheme. He said that the notification issued under Section 17(4) read with Section 6 of the Act for acquisition of land was defective in nature and it did not qualify to be a valid notification under the land acquisition laws. He asserted that the public purpose for which LDA had shown its intention to acquire the land, including one owned or possessed by the petitioners, would be a valid and legal process of acquisition and the LDA would have a preferential right to be considered on a better footing than that of the petitioners societies to acquire the land for the purposes of establishing a housing scheme thereon.