The Federal Constitutional Court 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 institution or its successor.
In a 17-page judgment authored by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, the court upheld a decision of the Peshawar High Court that had refused to allow provincial authorities to change the designated use of acquired land.
The court observed that while the state possesses the sovereign power of eminent domain to acquire private property, such acquisition is constitutionally valid only when it serves a genuine public purpose. According to the judgment, the purpose stated in the acquisition notification forms the legal basis for overriding an individual’s property rights.
The ruling further stated that if land acquired for a public project—such as a hospital—is later transferred, leased, or used for commercial or private purposes, the constitutional justification for the acquisition ceases to exist.
The court said such a change would amount to indirect expropriation in favor of private interests, which is prohibited under Article 24 of the Constitution.
The FCC also emphasized that the government’s authority 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.
The judgment is being viewed as an important clarification of constitutional protections for private property and the limits of state power in land acquisition cases
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