Dubious deal: 5.5 acres of pipe factory sold for only Rs26,000

SHC issued notices to KDA’s housing society officers and KMC۔

KARACHI: Sindh High Court issued notices to officers of Karachi Development Authority Cooperative Housing Society (KDAOCHS) and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation after a petition was filed by the residents of the society questioning the allotment of 5.5 acres of the KDA’s Pipe Factory land to the society at a token amount of just Rs26,000.

The petitioners said that a few months back they had noticed that the boundary wall of the factory had been demolished. When they inquired about it they found out that the land had been allotted by the KDA/KMC to the society’s members and their relatives.

The residents’ council, Haider Imam Rizvi Advocate, said that the pipe factory is still considered to be the main manufacturing and supplying facility of pipes for the entire city.

Citing the KDAOCHS, KMC, defunct City District Government Karachi and Environment Protection Agency (EPA) as respondents, the petitioners maintained that per square yard of the factory land costs around Rs60,000 in the open market. Hence the total value of the 5.5 acres comes in billions but it was allotted for a paltry sum of only Rs26,000.

The bench comprised Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar. It noted that the main respondents were not represented and ordered its office to send notices to KDA and KMC to come to court on August 16.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2012.