LAHORE: LHC overturned an order from the same court. Priorly court said land couldn’t leased for 20 years to the Pakistan Army for corporate farming.
The order came after a two-member bench heard a case from the Punjab government to overturn a decision. Said decision made by a single-member bench of the LHC.
The Punjab government said that the lawyers who filed the complaints did not have a stake in the case. As well as it was not the court’s job to control farming policies.
In June, the LHC’s one-person bench, led by Justice Abid Hussain Chattha, ruled that its illegal to lease land to the Pakistan Army for corporate farming. The court said that the armed forces did not have the civil or legal right to do corporate farming.
Justice Chattha also said that the caretaker government not allowed by the law to give land to big farms.
The Punjab government told the court that more than 45,267 acres of land in Bhakkar, Khushab, and Sahiwal would given to the army for a corporate agriculture growing project.
The Pakistan Army’s director general of strategic projects wrote to the Board of Revenue in Punjab on February 8. He asked that up to 1 million acres of state land in Punjab given to “corporate agriculture farming.”
In the letter the Pakistan Army said that rising oil and food prices were a big problem for Pakistan’s economy and agriculture. It had the experience to improve “waste, barren lands.”
Army’s suggestion
For the project, the military suggested releasing 10,000 to 15,000 acres of irrigation land right away. Then another 100,000 acres by March 1, and the remaining 1 million acres by April.
A month later, the Governor of Punjab and the Pakistan Army signed an agreement to work together. The deal said that the army could rent up to 1 million acres of state land in Punjab for corporate agriculture farming for 20 years.
The agreement also set up a way for the government of Punjab and the army to share the profits. According to this system, 20% of the profits from the business will used for research and development. The rest will split 50/50 between the government of Punjab and the army.
In the ruling, the LHC says that 1 million acres of land in the state make up “around 2% of the total territory of Punjab.”
But none of this information made public until March 10, when an official notice started circulating on social media. It said that the Punjab government had chosen to give the army 45,267 acres of state land in Bhakkar, Khushab, and Sahiwal for corporate farming.
As soon as the notice was made public, lawyers Fahad Malik and Rafay Alam from Lahore filed a case with the LHC. They challenged the government’s decision.
They said that giving land away by a caretaker government was “illegal and against the constitution”. Because a caretaker government could only handle day-to-day tasks. As well as Pakistan’s constitution didn’t let the military get involved in business.
Army’s response
At a news conference on April 25, the Inter-Services Public Relations’ director general, Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, was asked about the military’s efforts to get state land for corporate farming.
He said that both developing and developed countries had used their military in some way to help their agriculture. He also said that the provincial and federal governments had the final say.
