SC orders probe into land allotments

Apex court wants details of who acquired plots, at what rate and for what purpose.

KARACHI:

Supreme Court has constituted a commission on the 542 allotments leased out to different people since 2006 and tasked it to ascertain for what purposes and to whom the government land in Karachi was allotted.

The apex court also directed the commission to verify whether the land was allotted according to the market value or not.

The commission, headed by senior consultant of the Sindh Board of Revenue Nazar Mohammad Laghari, will have to submit the report within 15 days.

The apex court directed the Sindh chief secretary to facilitate Laghari, including assistance of the revenue officials and logistic support to the commission as it requires on an urgent basis.

Karachi hearing

A five-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the Karachi law and order case on Friday.

On the complaint of a local lawyer, Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi, senior officials of the revenue department appeared before the court and briefed the larger bench about 542 allotments in different areas of Karachi and some allotments in other areas of the province.

Naqvi informed the court that all of these land allotments were made on a political basis without ascertaining market values.  The officials failed to satisfy the bench that to whom the public land was allotted and at what prices.

Constituting the commission, Justice Chaudhry directed the provincial chief secretary to facilitate Laghari. “You’ll be given all sorts of help. Go ahead and try to find facts and submit the report within 15 days,” the court ordered.

“The allotment of the land is one of the reasons of the violence in the city,” Justice Chuadhry remarked.

Commenting on the case, a senior official said that it seems an impossible task given the limited time. The other official was also of the view that at least some hard facts will come out.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2013.