Tribunal finds land title fake

The land ownership of Karachi based industrial group in Thana Bula Khan taluka of Jamshoro district has turned out to be forged and an encroachment on the government land, according to the Anti-Encroachment Tribunal, Hyderabad.

The tribunal's judge Zulfiqar Ali Solangi on Thursday dismissed a plea, filed by Salman Ahmed Tabba and others, praying the court to declare that they are neither encroacher nor are they in possession of the government land.

"As per the microfilm record, the actual area of the above entries doesn't exceed 56 acres," reads the order. "However, through fraud, manipulation, and forgery, this area was increased to 1,113.36 acres by creating new khet numbers based on forged Ghath-Wadh entries and forms." The judge pointed out that the plaintiffs even secured a loan from a private bank on January 29, 2016, by mortgaging the entire land which was actually not theirs.

"... the plaintiffs (Directors of Tabba Group), in collusion with revenue officials, caused a substantial loss to the public exchequer by mortgaging the state land." The judge underscored Tabba and other plaintiffs are not entitled to any relief and their suit stands dismissed along with all pending applications.

Tabba's attorney, Obaid Mohsin Alavi, and counsel advocate Munawar Hussain maintained that they had purchased the land in question, comprising 22 survey numbers, from private owners in 2004. They submitted to the court that after the mutation Salman Tabba collectively owned 498.47 acres and Gul Muhammad Tabba 614.29 acres.

The plaintiffs are partners and directors in the Tabba Group of Industries. They later set up Al-Wardah Agro Industries Farm on the property located in Deh Babar Band in Thana Bula Khan taluka of Jamshoro. According to them, the purpose of the acquisition was to establish agricultural based farms and industries.

The law firm Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim & Co. was engaged to conduct verification of the land and public notice before the purchase was also issued in leading newspapers of English, Urdu and Sindhi languages. They claimed that the Mukhtiarkar and Tapedar issued no objection certificate for the sale while all payments to the sellers were made through pay orders.

In 2005 the new owners obtained permission from the revenue authorities to construct a boundary wall and subsequently they went ahead with the construction. In 2014, they used the land as a collateral for a loan from a bank after verification by the revenue officials.

The plaintiffs claimed that seven years later on January 8, 2021, the revenue department issued a notice asking them to verify the titles of their land ownership. They alleged that before they could respond to the notice, their boundary wall was demolished within three days of the notice. On February 22, 2022, the revenue officials accompanied by the police and the anti-encroachment force demolished the remaining part of their boundary wall.