Court orders gymkhana lease renewal

Former MPA's interim bail extended in assets beyond means cases

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) announced on Friday the verdict over the Sindh government's appeal against the judgment passed by a bench in a case pertaining to the renewal of the Karachi Gymkhana's land lease.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Omar Sial and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, announced the verdict reserved by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Faheem Ahmed Siddiqi.

Stating that it did not find any irregularities or misreading in the orders passed by the single bench, the court rejected the appeal and all other pleas submitted by the Sindh government.

Ordering the provincial government to renew the land's lease without any delay, it remarked that the amount of the lease can be decided in accordance with the leases of other gymkhanas in the city.

The land was reportedly leased to the Karachi Gymkhana in 1886. Its administration reached out to the Sindh Board of Revenue (BoR) for the renewal of the lease, but the SRB subsequently refused to renew the lease, maintaining that the land was worth billions of rupees and could not be leased for only Rs5 million for another 99 years.

Interim bail extended

The bench comprising Justice Sial and Justice Sangi also extended the interim bails of former provincial minister Jam Khan Shoro, as well as others, and sought progress reports for the investigation against them in a case regarding assets beyond means.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Zahid Baladi informed the court that the investigation against the accused had been completed and the case had been forwarded to the NAB headquarters in Islamabad to file a reference.

Following this, the court extended the interim bails of Shoro as well as the other accused until September 17 and sought progress reports of the investigation against them.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2020.