Islamabad Capital Territory

Islamabad | ReNews Pakistan
The federal government has amended the State Owned Enterprises Ownership and Management Policy 2023 as part of implementation of another condition linked to Pakistan’s programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), revising financial reporting and internal audit requirements for state owned entities.

The Finance Division issued a notification following approval of the amendments by the federal cabinet.

Under the revised policy, financial reporting standards notified from time to time by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) under Section 225 of the Companies Act 2017 will apply to all state owned enterprises covered by the SOEs Act 2023.

The amendment clarifies that, for the purposes of the SOEs Act, references to International Financial Reporting Standards will mean the financial reporting standards notified by the SECP for state owned enterprises in accordance with the Companies Act.

However, entities regulated by the State Bank of Pakistan will continue to follow the statutory financial reporting framework prescribed by the central bank under the Banking Companies Ordinance 1962.

The framework includes circulars, directives and other instructions issued by the SBP, which will take precedence in the event of any inconsistency with other financial reporting requirements.

Under the newly inserted Clause 31-B, any modification, exemption or relaxation granted by the SECP to companies under Section 225 of the Companies Act 2017 in relation to implementation of IFRS will also apply to state owned enterprises registered with the commission.

The amendment, however, makes clear that the provision will not affect the statutory powers of the State Bank of Pakistan. In matters falling within the central bank’s legal mandate, requirements issued under the State Bank of Pakistan Act 1956 will prevail.

The revised policy has also introduced Clause 31-C, requiring the Finance Division, in consultation with the Auditor General of Pakistan, to issue a detailed financial management framework for statutory state owned enterprises.

The framework is expected to provide greater clarity regarding financial governance, accounting requirements and management controls applicable to statutory SOEs.

The notification further requires all state owned enterprises to establish internal audit procedures and mechanisms in accordance with Sections 19 and 20 of the SOEs Act.

The amendments are aimed at bringing financial reporting and governance requirements of state owned enterprises under a more clearly defined regulatory framework while preserving the statutory authority of regulators, particularly the State Bank of Pakistan, over entities operating within their respective jurisdictions.

Islamabad : ReNews Pakistan
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has set a six month target for completing development work in Islamabad’s Sector E-12 after recovering more than 1,000 kanals of land that had remained under occupation for decades, removing one of the major obstacles to the long-delayed project.
CDA Chairman and Chief Commissioner Sohail Ashraf said the authority had accelerated development activities in the sector and was aiming to complete the remaining work within six months.
If achieved, the target could bring an end to a development delay stretching back nearly four decades. Sector E-12 was launched by the CDA in 1989, but development remained incomplete due largely to possession issues involving acquired land and unresolved compensation claims.
The authority has recently intensified efforts to take possession of land required for development and has recovered more than 1,000 kanals through an operation against longstanding occupations. The recovered land is estimated to be worth billions of rupees.
The development is expected to allow the CDA to proceed with infrastructure work in areas where progress had previously been held up because the authority did not have possession of the required land.
Alongside the land-recovery operation, the civic agency has taken steps to address outstanding claims involving local landowners. Around 15 allotment letters were recently handed over to affected landlords, while the CDA has assured stakeholders that genuine pending compensation cases will be resolved.
Development work has already made significant progress in three sub-sectors of E-12, while the authority has now shifted its attention to Sub-Sector 4, where work had remained stalled.
With possession of additional land secured, the CDA plans to undertake construction of roads and municipal infrastructure as well as other civic facilities required to make the sector suitable for residential development.
Ashraf credited CDA officials involved in the operation and Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi for supporting efforts to recover the land and facilitate progress on the sector.
Sector E-12 has remained one of Islamabad’s most prolonged development cases. Although the sector was launched more than three decades ago, repeated disputes over possession, compensation and acquired land prevented the project from reaching completion, affecting allottees awaiting development of their properties.
The latest land recovery and the six-month completion target indicate a renewed effort by the civic agency to resolve those longstanding issues and bring the sector into its final development phase.
However, similar challenges continue to affect several other sectors of the federal capital. Development remains pending in Sectors C-13, C-15, C-16, D-13, E-13 and F-13, where compensation-related matters have yet to be fully resolved by the CDA.

Islamabad | ReNews Pakistan
A court has ruled that a revenue mutation, by itself, cannot establish ownership or prove the transfer of title to immovable property, rejecting a challenge based on claims that 346 kanals of land in Sargodha had been gifted decades earlier and therefore did not form part of a deceased landowner’s estate.
The dispute centred on land measuring 346 kanals situated in Chak No. 29/N.B., Sargodha, which the defendants maintained had been gifted by Dost Muhammad to Ali Akbar during his lifetime.
According to the defendants, the gift was reflected in Mutation No. 204 dated February 6, 1962. On this basis, they argued that the property had already passed to Ali Akbar and was no longer owned by Dost Muhammad at the time of his death. Consequently, they contended, the land could not be treated as part of the deceased’s estate for the purpose of inheritance.
The defendants also disputed the inheritance claim of Sahib Khatoon, maintaining that she had been divorced by Dost Muhammad in 1921. They argued that, as a result of the alleged divorce, she was not legally entitled to inherit from him after his death.
The controversy eventually reached the court after the defendants challenged findings recorded by the lower courts concerning the ownership and inheritance of the disputed property.
Rejecting the challenge to the lower courts’ findings, Justice Hassan Nawaz Makhdoom held that the mere existence of a mutation entry in the revenue record was insufficient to establish that a valid gift of the property had taken place.
The court observed that a mutation was essentially a fiscal entry maintained by revenue authorities primarily for revenue administration and collection purposes. Such an entry, the court said, did not by itself create, confer or extinguish title to immovable property.
The judgment emphasised that where ownership was claimed on the basis of a gift, the party relying on that transaction was required to establish the underlying gift through legally admissible and credible evidence rather than relying solely on its entry in the revenue record.
In the present case, the court noted that the defendants had failed to produce any witness connected with the original gift transaction. Nor had they presented independent evidence capable of establishing that Dost Muhammad had actually made the alleged gift in favour of Ali Akbar.
The absence of evidence supporting the underlying transaction weakened the defendants’ reliance on Mutation No. 204, as the mutation itself could not substitute for proof of the transaction through which ownership was claimed to have been transferred.
The ruling therefore upheld the principle that entries in revenue records are not, standing alone, conclusive proof of ownership and that a party asserting title on the basis of an alleged gift must independently prove the transaction on which that claim rests.
The case also involved the defendants’ contention regarding Sahib Khatoon’s alleged divorce and her consequent entitlement to inheritance, making the dispute significant not only in relation to the evidentiary value of revenue records but also to the determination of succession rights in the deceased’s estate.