Former LG secretary, others declared ‘not guilty’

They had been accused of illegally allotting 265 acres of KMC land

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court declared on Wednesday former Sindh local government secretary Roshan Ali Sheikh, former Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator Lala Fazlur Rehman and former land department director Mohammad Waseem not guilty in a case pertaining to the illegal allotment of 265 acres of KMC land.

The land, allocated for a slaughterhouse in Landhi, was allotted illegally to a small cottage industry, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor had told the court at an earlier hearing.

Issuing a detailed verdict on the bail pleas of Sheikh, Rehman and Waseem, the court stated that no further investigation needed to be carried out against the three and granted them bail.

In the verdict, the court expressed dissatisfaction over NAB's investigation of the case, stating that none of the three accused were involved in the illegal allotment of KMC land.

Sheikh hasn't provided assistance for any irregularity, nor has he misused his authority for financial gains, the verdict states. It further highlights that the NAB has admitted to not being able to find any evidence of Sheikh, Rehman and Waseem's involvement in the illegal land transfer.

The verdict mentions that the NAB had received a letter in February 2019, informing that Sheikh was being unnecessarily dragged into the case and the land transfer was made in 1960, prior to Sheikh's birth. The BoR hasn't ever declared the land "disputed", nor sought its repossession from the KMC, the verdict notes, adding that NAB, though, had sought the property's details from Sheikh. It had written a letter in 2012 to Sheikh, then Karachi commissioner, for the purpose and Sheikh had informed NAB that the land was owned by the KMC.

As per the verdict, the sections included in the case were not applicable and hence, the court found the NAB's investigation of the case unsatisfactory.

Azadi Card discounts

Meanwhile, another bench summoned the Sindh social welfare secretary in a plea pertaining to senior citizens not getting discounts on medical facilities as warranted under Azadi Cards.

The petitioner's counsel informed the court that while mechanisms for collecting the cards had been set up, the cards were yet to be issued. He added that many elderly persons were being treated for various ailments at private hospitals but without any discount.

In reply, the counsel for private hospitals said that they couldn't afford to give discounts amid medicine price hikes.

The Sindh assistant advocate-general submitted a progress report to the court, adding that the Sindh social welfare secretary, who headed the council on elderly persons, had contracted Covid-19.

The court summoned the secretary and sought a progress report from him on the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2020.