Illegal actions: Report sought on encroached govt lands

SHC told that thousands of acres of official land being encroached upon in Latifabad

HYDERABAD: As controversies surrounding encroachment on government land in Latifabad continue, the Sindh High Court has ordered the Sindh revenue department to submit a compact report.

A Hyderabad Circuit Court bench, comprising Justice Nadeem Akhtar and Justice Khadim Hussain Shaikh, gave 15 days to the revenue officials for the report. The order was given on a petition filed by Muhammad Hassan, a resident of Latifabad. He pointed out encroachments on thousands of acres of land by at least 19 influential persons in several areas in the highland terrain of the Ganjo Takkar mountains and along the Indus River in Latifabad taluka.

Another scam in the same area but not related to the petition, involves 2,800 acres of pricy land. The case is already being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). NAB arrested four officials of the Hyderabad Development Authority during the course of the investigation.



“The illegally occupied land should be recovered from the squatters,” said the petitioner. During the hearing, Latifabad assistant commissioner Anwar Panhwar and an official of the Sindh land utilisation department sought time to furnish details about the status of land owned by the government, as well as the encroachments.

The SHC granted two weeks to the officials to submit details of both the government owned land and the encroachments on it.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2016.