Pending projects: Ban on land allotment costing billions, claims govt
SC had placed the ban on new allotment of revenue land in 2012.
SC had placed the ban on new allotment of revenue land in 2012 .
KARACHI:
The government claims it is suffering losses worth billions of rupees as it complies with the Supreme Court ban on new land allotment, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The ban was placed by the apex court on November 28, 2012 when it stopped the government from allotting revenue land due to massive irregularities in the records. More than a year since the ban, several educational institutions, industries, hospitals and low-cost housing schemes are in the doldrums.
Even the officials of the land utilisation department of the Board of Revenue, which earns a major chunk of its revenue from land allotment, say they are now working “idle” since the court stopped the allotment process.
Between 2006 and 2012, the land utilisation department has deposited over Rs13 billion in the Sindh government’s account.
This is the money it earned by allotting, regularising and renewing government land. But now, the department has stopped working. “Hundreds of applications are piled up and people want to get land for various purposes,” pointed out Shazar Shamoon, a senior member of the revenue board. “We have no other option but to comply with apex court orders.”
It may be a case of sour grapes for Shamoon as he was the one the Supreme Court bench came down hard on. The judges were upset with the inefficiency of the revenue board when it failed to reconstruct the land records that were burnt in the arson following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in 2007. Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali had asked Shamoon why he hadn’t been able to reconstruct the damaged records from the central record office even five years after the fire.
Sharing details on the revenue generated by the government through this process, the chairperson of the lands committee, Zahid Kurban Alavi, said the numbers are huge. “The provincial government allotted around 17,924 acres of fresh land and earned over Rs10 billion between 2006 and 2013,” he said. Similarly, the government earned Rs2 billion between 2008 and December 2012 by regularising state land and Rs272 million by renewing old leases, he shared.
Referring to a recent meeting with the business community, Shamoon said some people want to buy land for the cottage industry.
“The land is available and the government can earn a large amount of money by selling it, but we have to wait until the ban is lifted,” he said.
The court imposed the ban due to massive irregularities and missing land records in the department but officials insist on playing the victim. Apart from a few cases, a majority of land disposal is carried out in a transparent manner, an official claimed.
Land allotment procedure
There are different categoriesof allotment government land, which is given on a discounted rate to industries, education institutions, health facilities and low-cost housing schemes, under the Colonisation of Government Land Act, 1912.
A scrutiny committee, headed by senior members of the revenue board, determines the market value for the allotment of different kinds of state land. The membersof this committee include the land utilisation secretary, the finance secretary, Sindh Investment Cell chairperson, the relevant deputy commissioner and two private representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Presently, Siraj Kassam Teli and Haroon Farooki are these members.
“The scrutiny committee is the highest body to examine the proposals of fresh allotments in the light of the report received from the deputy commissioner of the area,” explained Farooki. “It makes recommendations to the chief minister for the final decision.”
Farooki, a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, felt the ban will create a stumbling block in the growth of the industry. He gave the example of Education City where the land utilisation department had allotted 2,279 acres to various universities to establish their campuses. Most of the universities, including Aga Khan University, have yet to gain possession.
“I cannot rule out the fact that favouritism has been done to a few people in the past but, the rest of the people who received land on merit, should not be punished.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2014.
The government claims it is suffering losses worth billions of rupees as it complies with the Supreme Court ban on new land allotment, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The ban was placed by the apex court on November 28, 2012 when it stopped the government from allotting revenue land due to massive irregularities in the records. More than a year since the ban, several educational institutions, industries, hospitals and low-cost housing schemes are in the doldrums.
Even the officials of the land utilisation department of the Board of Revenue, which earns a major chunk of its revenue from land allotment, say they are now working “idle” since the court stopped the allotment process.
Between 2006 and 2012, the land utilisation department has deposited over Rs13 billion in the Sindh government’s account.
This is the money it earned by allotting, regularising and renewing government land. But now, the department has stopped working. “Hundreds of applications are piled up and people want to get land for various purposes,” pointed out Shazar Shamoon, a senior member of the revenue board. “We have no other option but to comply with apex court orders.”
It may be a case of sour grapes for Shamoon as he was the one the Supreme Court bench came down hard on. The judges were upset with the inefficiency of the revenue board when it failed to reconstruct the land records that were burnt in the arson following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in 2007. Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali had asked Shamoon why he hadn’t been able to reconstruct the damaged records from the central record office even five years after the fire.
Sharing details on the revenue generated by the government through this process, the chairperson of the lands committee, Zahid Kurban Alavi, said the numbers are huge. “The provincial government allotted around 17,924 acres of fresh land and earned over Rs10 billion between 2006 and 2013,” he said. Similarly, the government earned Rs2 billion between 2008 and December 2012 by regularising state land and Rs272 million by renewing old leases, he shared.
Referring to a recent meeting with the business community, Shamoon said some people want to buy land for the cottage industry.
“The land is available and the government can earn a large amount of money by selling it, but we have to wait until the ban is lifted,” he said.
The court imposed the ban due to massive irregularities and missing land records in the department but officials insist on playing the victim. Apart from a few cases, a majority of land disposal is carried out in a transparent manner, an official claimed.
Land allotment procedure
There are different categoriesof allotment government land, which is given on a discounted rate to industries, education institutions, health facilities and low-cost housing schemes, under the Colonisation of Government Land Act, 1912.
A scrutiny committee, headed by senior members of the revenue board, determines the market value for the allotment of different kinds of state land. The membersof this committee include the land utilisation secretary, the finance secretary, Sindh Investment Cell chairperson, the relevant deputy commissioner and two private representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Presently, Siraj Kassam Teli and Haroon Farooki are these members.
“The scrutiny committee is the highest body to examine the proposals of fresh allotments in the light of the report received from the deputy commissioner of the area,” explained Farooki. “It makes recommendations to the chief minister for the final decision.”
Farooki, a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, felt the ban will create a stumbling block in the growth of the industry. He gave the example of Education City where the land utilisation department had allotted 2,279 acres to various universities to establish their campuses. Most of the universities, including Aga Khan University, have yet to gain possession.
“I cannot rule out the fact that favouritism has been done to a few people in the past but, the rest of the people who received land on merit, should not be punished.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2014.