Housing body claimed residents’ committee had demolished previous structure to usurp land. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered on Tuesday the construction of a boundary wall around the graveyard, located in Defence Housing Authority’s (DHA) Phase VII Extension, to save it from land grabbers.
Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, who headed the single bench, also directed the provincial law officer and the private defendants to file their para-wise comments by the next date of hearing. DHA had named a senior member of the provincial board of revenue, its land utilisation department, the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority and representatives of the Qayyumabad Residents Action Committee as respondents.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that the residents’ action committee had demolished the wall surrounding the graveyard spanning over 2.28 acres and were usurping extra land by burying the bodies outside the cemetery.
It claimed to have administrative control over the subject land, saying that the graveyard fell within the 640.55 acres of land acquired by it from the provincial board of revenue to launch the DHA Phase-VII Extension housing scheme. The residents’ committee was, however, campaigning to take possession of the land in excess of the area where the burial place is established, it alleged. The court was pleaded to declare the authority as the lawful owner of the land in question and restrain the private defendants from encroaching upon the same.
On February 2, 2012, the SHC bench had restrained the private defendants from burying bodies outside the Qayyumabad graveyard and ordered its Nazir (official) to carry out inspection of the site to ascertain the factual position regarding the parties’ claims.
On Tuesday, the authority’s lawyer, Nauman Jamali, referred to the Nazir’s inspection reports, saying that a warning had been given to the general public to not bury any body or dig up graves outside the graveyard.
The lawyer alleged, however, that the private defendants were still encroaching upon the graveyard land by burying more bodies, especially during the night and had brought 69 dumpers of mud there to raise constructions.
He pleaded that the authority may be permitted to raise a boundary wall around the subject land at its own cost and risk. Allowing the request, the bench ordered that in order to protect the subject land, the same be given under the control and supervision of the SHC’s Nazir and a boundary wall be raised at the plaintiff’s risk and cost.
Giving further directions, the bench also directed the area’s SSP and SHO to provide protection and assistance to the Nazir at the time of construction of the protective wall.
Govt version missing
The court noted, with concern, that the private defendants and the provincial government had not filed their comments or replied to the suit since March 2013. They were ordered to do the same when the matter would be taken up two weeks after the winter holidays.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2014.
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