Illegal allotment orders: SHC orders stern action against two officials

Petitioners say land was allotted to them in 1976

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered on Thursday the chief secretary and a senior member of the Board of Revenue to take stern legal action against an assistant commissioner and a Mukhtiarkar for issuing illegal allotment orders of land, which has already been allotted to 43 people in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 6, Scheme 35.

Headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, the two-judge bench issued these directives to the top bureaucrat and the top revenue officer of the province, after the original allottees alleged the two officials were allotting their plots to other people instead of handing over possession to them despite the passage of many years.

The petitioners had approached the court seeking removal of illegal encroachments and possession of the residential plots, which were legally allotted to them in 1976.

In 1979, the revenue board handed over a huge piece of land in Block 6 to the Karachi Development Authroity (KDA), which was then transferred to individuals through balloting, informed the allottees. In the balloting process, there were 402 plots of various categories, which included plots from 420 square yards to 600 square yards, they added.

Recently, the KDA authorities held a ceremony to give back possession of the encroached land to the original allottees and vowed to start the development work ‘soon’.

On the last hearing, the judges had ordered the land director to ensure the land in question is demarcated by October 4 this year and submit a compliance report in the court.

On Thursday, the petitioner alleged that an assistant commissioner and a Mukhtiarkar were issuing illegal allotment orders of their land to other people.

Taking serious notice of such conduct, the bench personally summoned the chief secretary, the board of revenue’s senior member and the District East DIG.

The chief secretary later appeared in the court and assured to take action against those responsible and get the issue resolved.

Adjourning the hearing, the judges directed the chief secretary and the senior member to take stern legal action against the two officers in accordance with the law and submit a compliance report. They further ordered that the allotment orders should be cancelled and it should be ensured that the same are not issued in future.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2016.