Amenity plot next to Civic Centre in court

Lawyer assures SHC ex-nazim Wasay Jalil will attend.

KARACHI:

Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of the Sindh High Court (SHC) summoned on Monday the District Officer (DO) Land Management, City District Government Karachi (CDGK) along with the original record of a plot next to Civic Centre.

The suit was filed by Muhammad Irfan, who bought the plot from the original allottee Akhtar Javed Pirzada. The court also sought a master plan of the plot, ST 2, 15-B/1 A, Block 14, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town.

The 3,000-square yard plot is located next to Civic Centre and was not being handed over to the purchaser/allottee as the Gulshan Town Municipal Administration had built a town office among others and other important installations on it. The problem is that the plot was an “amenity plot” reserved for the construction of a “public building”.

When the suit filed by the plaintiffs came up for hearing, the bench noted that the town nazim, who is the alleged contemnor, was not present. The fact was pointed out by the counsel for the plaintiff. The bench took strong exception to this and asked how buildings and other structures were constructed on the plot when it was meant for the public. Raja Shams-uz-Zaman, appearing for the alleged contemnors, undertook to file a vakalatnama on behalf of alleged contemnor ex-town nazim Wasay Jalil and to make sure he attended the next hearing on March 16.

The CDGK’s lawyer Idrees Alvi advocate told the bench, to a question, that the CDGK had handed over the disputed land to Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town and therefore whatever construction had taken place had happened on the orders of the nazim (Wasay Jalil in this case). Alvi was unable to explain the status of the plot to the court.

The bench then ordered the DO for Land Management to appear with the original records.

According to plaintiff Javed Akhtar Pirzada, the plot was allotted to him in October 1996 by the then chief minister. However, the government cancelled all allottments, transfers, exchanges etc. made between January 1, 1985 and November 1996. The plaintiffs maintain that they had paid for 50 per cent of the plot and were ready to pay the remaining amount at the market price (of the relevant time). They wanted the vacated plot to be given to them.

Javed Akhtar Pirzada is known for being named in the murder cases of Justice (retd) Nizam Ahmed and his son Nadeem Ahmed along with Asif Ali Zardari, Bilal Shaikh, Baber Sindhu. All of them were exonerated for want of evidence. Nizam and his son were gunned down by unidentified men over a disputed plot adjacent to Awami Markaz.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2011.