The Department of Military Lands and Cantonments manages Defence Lands and Cantonment Boards all over Pakistan. ML&C Department attends to and promotes the interest of more than 4.7 Million people, handles budgets amounting to approximately Rs. 35 billion which is increasing on a yearly basis, defends over 6,000 litigation cases related to land and municipal matters and manages a human resource base of nearly 20,000 employees.
Defence lands and cantonments have existed since British Rule. The first Cantonment was established back in 1765 at Barrackpore. Pakistan inherited 23 Cantonment Boards. Keeping in view the requirement of defence services, the number of Cantonment Boards has increased from time to time and now there are 44 Cantonment Boards.
Following the independence of Pakistan, the assets that were with the Ex-state forces and the lands that had been in use for defence purposes accrued to the Government of Pakistan (Ministry of Defence) through constitutional provisions. These were brought on record and consolidated by Military Estates Officers. Presently, there are 11 Military Estate Circles in Pakistan.
In 1975, the “Military Lands and Cantonments Group” was instituted, absorbing all the Military Estates Officers, the Executive Officers of the Cantonments and the Directorate in the Ministry of Defence. The appointments of the officers to this Cadre are through CSS Examination annually conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission(FPSC).
