Organised gangs involved in selling KDA land, SHC told

Court orders KDA to seek help from Rangers and police to retrieve land from squatters in Surjani Town

KARACHI:

Organised criminal gangs are illegally selling lands belonging to the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) in Surjani Town Block 8, the Sindh High Court (SHC) was informed during the hearing of a petition regarding alleged land grabbing in the town.

The KDA officials, through their counsel, submitted a report stating that plots are being sold in the name of fake societies under different names. Advertisements have been published in national newspapers regarding the illegal sale of lands, the report further states. The operation to evict squatters from encroached KDA land could not be completed due to a lack of manpower and resources.

The court ordered removal of encroachments and illegal constructions and submission of a compliance report on March 30. The court also ordered that help should be sought from the Rangers and police for retrieval of KDA land from squatters.

Meanwhile, a two-judge SHC bench on Wednesday accepted a request for urgent hearing of a petition regarding non-implementation of a ban order on carcinogenic tobacco chew, such as gutka and main puri, by police, and issued notices to the Sindh chief secretary, home secretary, IGP Sindh and additional IGP Karachi.

Appearing before the bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro, the petitioner's lawyer Muzzammil Mumtaz Meo Advocate stated that the provincial police, including IGP, were not implementing the court ban orders on gutka and main puri. Two officers in the SSP Malir office, namely Moin and Asghar, are patronising the gutka mafia, as per the petitioner. Despite a ban, the sale of gutka and main puri continues.

According to a report by the doctors at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, the number of mouth cancer patients has gone up. People from the poor class are falling victim to different diseases due to the use of gutka and main puri.

The petitioner claimed that the SHOs of police stations were involved in the sale of gutka and main puri. Only in Malir district, 30 to 35 gutka and main puri factories are being operated. The SHOs are receiving Rs3 million per week from these factories. The head muharrir of every police station receives Rs35,000 per month from each cabin selling gutka and main puri.

The petitioner sought a court direction to the provincial police chief to take action against these policemen. The court accepted the request for an urgent hearing of the application and issued notices to the chief secretary, home secretary, IG Sindh and AIG Karachi.

M9 corruption scam

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has nullified a banking court decision on the bail petition of Mukhtiar Ali Chandio, manager of a bank in Naushahro Feroze, and Saud ul Haq in alleged Rs3 billion embezzlement in acquisition of land for the Hyderabad Sukkur Motorway, M9, while ordering the trial court to decide the petition within 10 days.

Appearing before a two-member SHC bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro, on Wednesday, public prosecutor GM Bhutto stated that government officials and private individuals were involved in the M9 corruption scandal. Four suspects, including a former deputy commissioner of Naushahro Feroze, have fled the country. “The scam, which involves Rs.3.4 billion, is huge and hence should be transferred to NAB,” he further stated.

Justice Kalhoro observed that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was mainly involved in all such inquiries these days. “Laws should be implemented to catch culprits in the white-collar crimes,” he observed while regretting that in major cases, even challan was not presented for four to five months.

The court asked the public prosecutor to implement the law or change it.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2023.