LAHORE – The Supreme Court Sunday issued notices to all provincial governments in a suo motu case regarding the functioning of Patwaris, Kanungos, and Tehsildars in urban areas.
A special bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the matter at Supreme Court Lahore Registry.
As proceedings commenced, Advocate General Punjab Ahmad Owais apprised the bench that the matter was related to Land Revenue Act which was also applied in other provinces.
He submitted that it was important to know the stance of other provinces as well. At this, the court issued notices to all provincial governments and observed that the next hearing of the case would be held in Islamabad.
Taking suo motu notice of the issue earlier, the chief justice had sought a complete report from the Punjab government about Patwaris and patwarkhanas working in the metropolis.
He asked that under what law, the Patwaris were preparing land transfer deeds after the establishment of the Punjab Land Revenue Authority (LRA).
The CJP regretted that they (Patwaris) were committing fraud with innocent people, saying, “If the government fails to offer a legal justification for working of Patwaris, I will remove all Patwaris.”
