e. The provisions of section 2 of the Act supra have been subject-matter of interpretation in various pronouncements of the honourable Supreme Court. In “Mst. Badshah Begum and others v. The Additional Commissioner (R) Lahore Division and others” (2003 SCMR 629) the august Court ruled as follows:
“10. There can be no exception to the legal position that jurisdiction of Notified Officer under Evacuee Property and Displaced Persons Laws (Repeal) Act (XIV of 1975) would confine only to the extent of pending cases of the categories mentioned in section 2(2) of the Act of 1975. The first category of cases was which were pending before Settlement Authorities and second of the cases which were pending before the Courts at the time of Repeal of the evacuee laws in which the orders of the Settlement Authorities were under challenge, set aside or recalled under the provisions of the relevant statue would not by virtue of an order passed by any Court or authority after repeal, be covered by the provisions of section 2(2) of the Ordinance, 1974 (Act XIV of 1975), and therefore, the Notified Officer appointed under the repealing Ordinance, 1974 (Act XIV of 1975) would not be competent to re-open the matter finalized under the relevant statute before the repeal of evacuee laws” … “There can be no deviation from the legal position that a case which was not pending before any forum in terms of subsection (2) of section 2 of the repealed Ordinance, 1974 (Act of 1975) would not be treated as such under the orders of any authority or Court arising in consequence to proceedings initiated subsequent to repeal of evacuee laws and thus despite of remand of the case to the Notified Officer by the High Court, the limit of his powers under the law will not be extended to the cases which had attained finality under the statute. It is settled law that if any authority had no jurisdiction in the matter under the law, the jurisdiction could not be conferred on the said authority by an order of the Court”.
Part of Judgment
IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT BAHAWALPUR BENCH BAHAWALPUR
Writ Petition-Land-Direction to Departments
6382-19
2019 LHC 2976
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