Land grabbing case: Petitioner gets justice after 30 years

SHC orders removal of encroachment after Eidul Azha.

KARACHI: Sayed Ahmed Hashmi had filed a constitutional petition 30 years ago to remove encroachments on land sold in a public auction. He named the land utilisation department, the deputy commissioner, the Board of Revenue and 11 legal heirs of the late Pir Bux as respondents. Pir Bux was the one who had encroached on Hashmi’s land, plot survey No. 212, Deh Gujro, Tappo (sub-division) Songal.

On Monday, a division bench of the Sindh High Court ordered all judicial, revenue and law-enforcement agencies to coordinate and end the encroachment immediately after Eidul Azha.

This decision was made to implement the orders of the Supreme Court and to end the three-decade-old litigation.

All the court decisions in favour of the petitioner and appeals were exhausted and the Supreme Court also endorsed the decision by the High Court in favour of petitioner Hashmi.

During Monday’s hearing, the bench inquired about orders it had passed on October 20. The court found that the DO revenue had not informed the special committee convened under the EDO Revenue on objections raised by the petitioner regarding the offer for the allotment of alternate land and of the history of litigation between the parties.

The bench noted that “public functionaries are not interested in compensating the petitioner by providing alternate land of equal value and dimension, for which the petitioner contested for almost three decades”.

Under these compelling circumstances, the court directed the authorities to restore the encroached land in favour of the petitioner. When told about the existence of a mosque and madrassa, the bench said that according to the report of the court’s Nazir, the encroached land is about 3,780 square feet while the land owned by the petitioner is 2,739 square yards. The report says the two structures do not come in the way of implementing orders of the successive courts, including the Sindh High Court and the Supreme Court.

The bench said public functionaries are under obligation to implement orders of the apex court. It ordered the district judge (central) to nominate a judicial magistrate to supervise the encroachment removal operation by the EDO Revenue.

The bench also asked revenue officials to coordinate with the Gulberg town municipal administration so that the encroachment is removed immediately after Eidul Azha.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2010.