SC restricts patwaris’ role in urban land deals

— Court rules urban land will only be transferred under Land Revenue Act 

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday imposed a ban on the role of patwarkhanas in the sale and purchase of land in urban areas, limiting it to only maintenance of land records.

These directives were issued as a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar heard a suo motu case pertaining to the functioning of patwaris, kanungos and tehsildars.

During the hearing, the bench ordered that patwaris, who are land record officers at sub-divisional or tehsil level, will not have any jurisdiction in areas that come under the mandate of the Punjab Land Revenue Act. It added that verbal agreements will no longer hold in urban areas.

The chief justice had earlier inquired under what law the patwaris were preparing land transfer deeds after the establishment of the Punjab Land Revenue Authority (PLRA).

The court on Thursday ruled that property will only be transferred through the Land Revenue Act from now on.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan commented on the lack of transparency in the sales of property under these ‘informal’ offices.

“There are masterplans in the cities, how can there be sale and purchase of properties which are not on the master plan,” he questioned.

The top judge also claimed that the patwaris seem to be “on a rampage” and mused that “man has reached the moon, and yet there are hurdles in computerising property records”.