Government land: SHC orders CM to take action against people involved in illegal allotment

Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday ordered Sindh Chief Minister and Chief Secretary to take strict action against the elements involved in illegal allotment of government land in the province. A division bench of the SHC also directed both the chief minister and chief secretary to look into the illegal allotment of land personally while hearing the case pertaining to allegedly illegal allotment of government land to a private builder in Gultistan-e-Jauhar Scheme 33.

The court expressing the annoyance over the illegal allotment of government land remarked that what is being done in Sindh and observed that it is apparently failure of the system. The court came hard on Additional Prosecutor General National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for not concluding the inquiry the private builder for years. "Don't drag the feet and tell the court whether you want to conclude the inquiry or not", the court asked NAB attorney.

Additional prosecutor general submitted that illegal allotment of the land has been stayed by the court after private builder moved it. The court, however, said that inquiries in the cases dearer to NAB are concluded quickly. It ordered NAB to submit the report by completing the inquiry against the private builder.

The petitioner for the builder told the court that ten acres of land was allotted to in Gultistan-e-Jauhar and got the stay order against the cancellation of allotment in 2014.

Meanwhile, a division bench of the SHC was dissolved after Justice Zauliqar Sarangi refused to hear the petition of Ijaz Jakhrani, Advisor Prison Sindh against NAB inquiry and removal of his name from ECL.

The case was transferred to division bench comprised of Justice K.K. Agha and Zaulfiqar Sarangi under the orders of Chief Justice of Pakistan.

However, Justice Sarangi refused to hear the case, leaving it to Chief Justice to constitute to new bench.

Counsel of Ijaz Jakhrani in the petition said that Jakhrani wanted to move abroad for treatment of his illness and cited the cases of Pervez Musharraf, Shahbaz Sharif and others as precedents for removal of his name from ECL. According to NAB Prosecutor, investigations against Jakhrani in two cases, one in Sukhur and one in Islamabad are underway.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019