A sessions judge has said there is a sorry state of affairs in Karachi’s District West where many government lands have fallen prey to land grabbers and illegally procured lands have become the breeding ground for unlawful buying and selling practices.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (West) Zulfiqar Ali was hearing a direct complaint moved by a citizen about the illegal occupation of a 120-square-yard plot in Hassan Brohi Goth.A revenue official informed the court that the plot was a government land, which belonged to neither the complainant, Muhammad Riaz, nor to the respondent, Sharafat Ali Kiyani.During the hearing of the case, he noted, it had become quite obvious that the government-owned properties were not being taken care of and the persons who should be blamed for it without a fringe of doubt were the deputy commissioner and mukhtiarkar, as well as their subordinates.
“It is a sorry state of affairs in District West where there are many such government lands which fall prey to land grabbers and illegally procured lands become the breeding ground for unlawful buying and selling practices, thus not only ripping off innocent persons but also contributing to a spike in the registration of civil and criminal cases, as well as those of murder,” the judge observed.
“I am aware of the fact that it is the learned Chairman Board of Revenue, Secretary Land Utilisation Department Government of Sindh, Commissioner Karachi, Member Gothabad Board of Revenue Sindh, Member Land Utilisation Department, Director Anti-Encroachment Force, Deputy Commissioner West, Assistant Commissioner Manghopir, Mukhtiarkar Gothabad, area tapedar and security forces, including Additional Inspector General of Police Karachi, DIG West, SSP West, and SHOs, who are not only willfully negligent, but also keep getting their hands dirty in facilitating illegal occupation of these lands, and are not stranger to the buying and selling real estate mafia.”
