In court: Sindh and city governments fight over land for bus terminal

Revenue EDO, other officials summoned on July 7.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court found itself in the middle of a land dispute for an intercity bus terminal in Gadap Town with the Sindh and city governments and Malir Development Authority (MDA) making confusing statements.

The court had ordered the authorities to relocate the bus terminal at Taj Complex in Saddar to Gadap Town. A former elected representative of Saddar, Mehfoozun Nabi Khan, and other residents, including the imam of Jamia Masjid Gulzar-e-Habib, filed a constitutional petition in which they asked the court to have the bus terminal removed from the neighbourhood as it led to congestion and the late-night repairs were a nuisance.

The petitioners pointed out that an SHC bench had given the city four months to get the job done and the deadline was June 17 this year. The city’s lawyer, Manzoor Ahmed, said that the matter has been sorted out and they just needed a fortnight to finish the work. The bench was not satisfied and remarked, “This means you need another six months”.

According to Ahmed, 100 acres were allotted to the CDGK but the MDA later claimed ownership.

The governor intervened and it was decided that the MDA would be compensated elsewhere. “We have held a series of meetings and the revenue EDO will help decide the issue of possession,” the CDGK lawyer said.

The petitioner said that if the respondents were given more time then they should pay a penalty for every day that they delay the transfer. To this, the CDGK lawyer backtracked and said that, “it is the revenue department’s land, not ours”.

And then, quite out of the blue, Additional Advocate General Adnan Karim Memon sprang from his seat on the other side of the aisle and said: “The CDGK is not making any payments and there is no movement on their part. How can they acquire the land in such circumstances?” He asked the focal person from the Sindh transport department to explain the facts to the court.

“He [the AAG] was not at the meeting and, therefore, he is unaware of the decisions [that were made],” said the CDGK’s lawyer, but he was caught off guard when the bench asked him if these meetings were attended by MDA officials. He replied that MDA was represented and even though they claimed ownership of the land, they still agreed to receive compensation elsewhere. The bench said that it was not concerned with the arguments between the MDA, CDGK or other departments. The main concern was that court orders are implemented, it added. The judges asked the city government how much more time it needed but the lawyer said that, “[they] cannot give any time frame as the land is not [theirs]”. “Once we get possession only then would we be in a position to say how long it would take to get the bus terminal [working].”

After hearing the arguments, the bench adjourned the proceedings till July 7 and summoned all relevant officers, including those of the revenue and transport departments and MDA.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2011.