Land Acquired for Public Purposes Cannot be Converted into Housing Schemes or Commercial Projects: FCC

The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has ruled that land acquired by the government for a specific public purpose cannot generally be diverted to another use at the discretion of the beneficiary or its successor.

In a 17-page judgment authored by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, the court upheld a Peshawar High Court decision that refused to allow provincial authorities to change the designated use of acquired land.

The court observed that while the state has the sovereign power of eminent domain to acquire private property, such action is constitutionally valid only when it serves a genuine public purpose. It emphasized that the purpose stated in the acquisition notification is the legal basis for overriding an individual’s property rights.

The judgment further stated that if land acquired for a public project, such as a hospital, is later transferred or leased for commercial or private use, the constitutional justification for the acquisition no longer exists.

Such a move, the court said, would amount to indirect expropriation in favor of private interests, which is prohibited under Article 24 of the Constitution.

The FCC also stressed that the government’s power to compulsorily acquire land is not unlimited. It ruled that if the stated public purpose is fictitious, abandoned, or materially altered, the acquisition loses its constitutional foundation and cannot be justified under the law.