Larkana ladies club: SC seeks reply over illegal occupation

DC Larkana insists shops are rented and would be vacated if rent not received

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Sindh Board of Revenue and Municipal Corporation Larkana to submit their response over the illegal occupation of a portion of the pre-partition Ladies Club in Larkana.

A two-judge bench of the apex court headed by chief justice Nasirul Mulk heard the suo motu case. Last month, the top court took notice of the news story published in The Express Tribune on February 10 under the title, “Pre-Partition heritage: Larkana’s ladies club loses portion to land mafia,” and took suo motu action over the case.

The Ladies Club in Larkana, which hosted the spouses of Sindh’s first chief minister and several bureaucrats, has lost a portion of its pre-Partition building to the land mafia.

During Thursday’s hearing, DC Larkana appeared before the bench and presented a report. He stated in his report that two shops have been rented by the Ladies Club authorities themselves and such income is used for activities at the club. The DC also rejected the media reports that the district government handed the club over to a builder in 2004 who wanted to convert it into a hotel.

After going through the contents of DC’s report, the bench also sought ‘commitment’ from the provincial government that the land will not be given on commercial purposes. The hearing was adjourned till April 2.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2015.