Legal owners, illegal project: Whose land is it, anyway?

Moon Gardens residents continue protest against eviction as authorities bicker

KARACHI:

Each new day gives rise to a new controversy in Karachi. This time, it's the Moon Gardens, which the Sindh High Court (SHC) had ordered on September 29 to be evacuated as it was built on encroached land.

The petitioner, Railways Cooperative Housing Society, had claimed that the builder had illegally constructed the residential project on their land. As the residents protested the court's decision on Thursday, the blame-game began with each stakeholder producing the necessary documents to prove their point.



The builder produced the lease papers, duly signed by the Karachi Development Authority. The Sindh Building Control Authority had also issued a No-Objection Certificate to the project. All the utility providers had given connections. Meanwhile, the Railways Cooperative Housing Society waved about the court's orders in its favour.

Next, the local government minister jumped in, claiming the land belonged to the Sindh government. Syed Nasir Hussain Shah claimed that the land originally belonged to the Sindh government and was given to the Pakistan Railways to construct railway tracks and stations. "When an allotted land fails to fulfil the purpose it was originally allotted for, it automatically comes back to the government," he said.

For his part, SBCA spokesperson Farhan Qaiser told The Express Tribune that 25 per cent of the land belongs to KDA, while 75 per cent belongs to Cantonment Board Faisal (CBF), whose vice-president Shahadatullah insisted the area did not even fall in their jurisdiction.



The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) Master Plan for the city, however, contradicts the minister's claims. According to the maps for the master plan of 1982 and 2002, copies of which are available with The Express Tribune, the land belongs to Safari Park and was allotted to it by the revenue department in 1970.

At the beginning

The builder, Abdul Razzak Khamosh, owned a 363-yard plot in Gulshan-e-Maymar, which he replaced with a 4,000-square-yard plot at the current location, in connivance with the KMC and revenue board officials. Subsequently, the Moon Garden project was issued survey number 309 by the KMC. The builder soon started construction on the plot.

At the time, however, some officials of the KMC raised objections, after which the construction was halted and the case was taken to court.

The builder allegedly greased the palms of top officials of the KMC and the revenue department once again, after which the then KMC assistant land director, Altaf Hamid Khan, issued a no-objection certificate for the project, an official told Express News.



Where it stands now

As the authorities bicker over the land's ownership, no one is ready to own the residents who now have no roof over their heads and no place to call home. On Thursday, the residents continued their protest for the third consecutive day. Their voices went unheard as the court too turned down their plea to stop the eviction until the case is heard in the Supreme Court.

Nowhere to go

The residents of the 180 apartments now have nowhere to go. "I was supposed to shift [into the apartment] next month," said Mrs Ali, who was sitting outside the apartment block. "We had recently been given possession of the apartment and had no idea the land was disputed."

Kanwal, who has been living in the project since 2008, said they received possession of their apartment after verifications it from the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA). "Our electricity and water connections have been suspended," she lamented.

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