KU land illegally occupied by mafia

The Karachi University (KU) administration has filed another formal complaint with the Sindh government seeking retrieval of its valuable land from the “encroachment mafia”. The complaint states that more than one kilometer long piece of land along University Road has been grabbed by the mafia.

In the latest complaint addressed to the Deputy Commissioner East, KU Registrar Dr Abdul Waheed Baloch has demanded that the land should be retrieved from the grabbers. He pointed out that the grabbers have illegally occupied a 1.64km-long and 55-metres wide piece of land stretching from Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre to Silver Jubilee Gate.

According to the complaint, illegal squatters, nurseries, car dealers, and restaurateurs have illegally occupied this valuable piece of land.

KU Vice Chancellor Khalid Iraqi said that the university administration has repeatedly written to the district administration to seek action against this grab. “Now, we are waiting for an action from the administration,” he added.

The question is if the district administration manages to retrieve the land from grabbers, then how the university will ensure that encroachments do not pop up again? Different departments of KU have always been passing the buck to each other on this issue, while the university administration does not have any plan to use this valuable land.

The KU Registrar’s letter to the district administration is the third so far this year. The earlier two letters were sent on November 11, 2021 and on March 9, 2022. These letters had stated that the encroachment of the university land is a violation of the Sindh Public Property (Removal of Encroachment) Act, 2010.

“This land is the legal property of University of Karachi which was handed over to the campus as state land. So, the administration of the Karachi University is requesting the Deputy Commissioner East that necessary action should be taken in this matter and directions be issued to remove the encroachment and its structure, so that this valuable land of the university campus can be freed from the encroachment mafia,” state the letters.

When approached by The Express Tribune, Raja Tariq, Deputy Commissioner District East, said that he was busy with the ongoing defense exhibition, IDEAS-2022, at the Expo Center.

“We will meet the Vice Chancellor of Karachi University on this issue,” he said, adding that he has assumed his present charge only five months back while the encroachments issue was much older.

Raja Tariq also questioned as to why the previous Vice Chancellors of KU had not informed the district administration about the land grab?

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2022.