BoR officials to face prosecution for issuing fake documents

A fake claim to ownership of more than 80 acres of land incurrs the wrath of the court.

KARACHI: A fake claim to ownership of more than 80 acres of land incurred the wrath of the court, which on Tuesday ordered a senior member of the Board of Revenue (BoR) to initiate criminal proceedings against officials who issued fake documents and sanads (land-holding permits).

The Sindh High Court bench was hearing a constitutional petition filed by a man called Dhani Bux of Dhani Bux Brohi village. He had approached the court, pleading it to issue directions to revenue officials to declare the village as sanctioned and issue allotment orders in his favour. On Tuesday, the bench perused the report submitted by the Mukhtiarkar of the Sindh Gothabad Scheme. The bench noted that the petition was filed on the basis of certain documents and sanads purportedly issued by him. According to comments, the village was never sanctioned and documents and sanads submitted by the petitioner to prove his claim over a sprawling 85 acres were “forged and managed”.

The Mukhtiarkar described the petitioner as a “land grabber” and said that he was continuously selling the plots to the poor and labour class people who were unaware that the documents were fake. The bench also went through the inquiry report prepared by a member of the land utilization department, according to which no such villages exists and the documents annexed and relied upon by the petitioner to establish the right of propriety were managed.

At this stage, the petitioner present in court sought permission to withdraw the petition which was dismissed and he was fined Rs20,000. The bench then ordered the BoR to “examine how the petitioner obtained fake and managed documents as [they] could not be procured without [the] active involvement of the revenue authorities”.

The bench also ordered that “after such [an] inquiry, action should be taken against the delinquent officials so also criminal prosecution be initiated against all [those] involved in [the] scam of issuing forged sanads and revenue record[s]”. The bench then disposed off the petition. The respondents cited in the petition included the secretary of land utilization, the project director of the Sindh Gothabad Scheme, the DO Revenue, CDGK and other revenue officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2010.