Court orders return of land to Sindh govt

Accountability Court orders DHA Karachi, to return 731.28 acres of land bought from convicted private persons

HYDERABAD:

In a multi-billion rupees land scam, the Accountability Court Hyderabad on Thursday convicted eight officials of Sindh Revenue Department including a former Deputy Commissioner besides private individuals to varying jail terms and amounts of fine.

Accountability Court Judge Naseem Jalal Soomro also ordered Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Karachi, to return 731.28 acres of land bought from the convicted private persons who had fraudulently turned the state land into their private property.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a reference, nominating 17 persons, in 2019.

But, the investigation had started much earlier. As per the probe, the land in question is in Thana Bula Khan situated at Deh Babar Band, Tapo Hathal Budh. It was sold to DHA Karachi in 2015.

The DHA Karachi had purchased the land in question for the DHA City on M9 Motorway in 2015 from persons who in connivance with the revenue officials forged documents to show the state land in Thana Bula Khan, Jamshoro, as their own property.

The DHA has been ordered to return 731 acres to Director General National Accountability Bureau, Karachi, who will later handover the land to the provincial government through Sindh Chief Secretary.

The judge found the nine revenue officials guilty of connivance, forgery and misuse of authority and sentenced them to five years in jail in addition to Rs2.5 million in fine.

The convicts include ex-DC Jamshoro Sohail Adeeb Bachani, former Assistant Commissioners Javed Ahmed Soomro and Mumtaz Channa and former Mukhtiarkars Irshad Kamalani and Ghulam Muhammad Memon.

The same sentence has also been pronounced for Tapedars Ghulam Mustafa Dawach and Abdul Rahim Burfat.