Hearing the Karachi law and order suo moto implementation case, the Supreme Court’s three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani inquired of the BoR members what efforts were being made to retrieve the encroached land.
The BoR member Zulfiqar Ali Shah and senior member BoR Malik Israr have submitted that about 59,803 acres and 39 ghuntas is the encroached land, which included both institutional and individual encroachments. They further stated that an area of 2,864 acres has been retrieved and the remaining is still under encroachment.
To a court query, Zulfiqar Ali Shah submitted that institutional encroachment is 52,130 acres and it includes both federal and provincial institutions. He submitted that efforts were being made to have the land vacated but it may take a few months.
However, on a specific query about the timeline, the BoR officials submitted that the BoR would be able to have the land vacated within a period of six months and sought time. The court directed the BoR to retrieve the government and private encroached land within six months and submit the compliance report before the court.
On the encroachment of 1,446 acres of forest land at Deh Shah Bukhari, Qasimabad, the applicant Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi submitted that despite the removal of the encroachment the land in question has been again re-occupied by the land grabbers and a construction has been raised. Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Mohammad Nawaz submitted that pursuant to the order of the court, a piece of land measuring 1,446 acres was retrieved and its possession was handed over to the Forest Department on May 4, 2013.
Conservator Forest Mohammad Sadiq Mohal confirmed the statement of the DC Hyderabad. However, he apprehended that the encroachers might take over the land again and the DPO concerned has been requested to establish a picket at the spot to prevent fresh encroachment, which has not been done. He submitted that Forest Department has prepared a comprehensive plan to plant trees on the entire area and for that PC-I has also been prepared, which has been approved by the provincial government and in the current budget funds would be allocated.
The court directed the advocate general Sindh to get in touch with the chief minister to ensure that the requisite funds are made available to the Forest Department. The court also directed the DPO Hyderabad to deploy a picket as requested by the Forest Department to prevent any encroachment. The court observed that since both the deputy commissioner and the conservator forest have submitted that the possession was handed over to the Forest Department on May 4, 2013, therefore any order of status quo would ensure benefit of the Forest Department which had already taken possession on the afore-referred date.
On application of Salahuddin Siddiqui, who was denied possession and access of 10 acres long lease land for automotive parts near Steel Mills, Chairman of the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) Agha Jan Akhtar submitted that the 10 acres of land allotted to the applicant in Eastern Industrial Zone is owned by the Sindh government but the subject land is situated between the PQA establishment and the Pakistan Steel Mills and that there is no road access and other amenities available for proper land utilisation.
He submitted that the PQA has certain issues with the provincial government regarding ownership of land and there is misconception in certain quarters that there was some encroachment by the Authority. He said that he had a meeting with the chief secretary Sindh recently and hopefully all the issues are likely to be settled.
Regarding the grievance of the applicant, he said the land allotted is owned by the provincial government but in deference to the proceedings of the court and the fact that the applicant is a potential investor, the PQA shall provide access road to the applicant on payment of due charges, if possible, from the land owned by the PQA and otherwise an alternative solution in this regard shall be found in conjunction/consultation with BoR and Pakistan Steel Mills.
The deputy commissioner Malir having visited the spot confirmed that such an alternate solution could be found and the applicant readily agrees. The deputy commissioner shall carry out this exercise and complete the same within a fortnight under intimation to the assistant registrar (Karachi) of the court. Siddiqui informed the court that 10 acres was allotted on a long lease for the construction of automotive parts industry and he made payment of Rs20 million approximately as required but despite the lapse of all these years possession has not been given on account of which the industry has not been established. He submitted that Deputy Commissioner Malir Kazi Jan Mohammad sent a possession letter along with a site plan two days back when the case is fixed Tuesday before the court, however there was no access to the said land. The court adjourned the hearing of the case.
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