The Supreme Court on Thursday directed chief conservator of forests Sindh to provide a list of leases who have been granted the forest land in the last 20 years within two weeks. The court also ordered him to submit the names of the lessees. It issued notices to the lease holders of forest land whether such lease was valid and why not the court should cancel them. The court directed chief secretary Sindh, secretary forest and wildlife and chief conservator of forests, federal secretary Ministry of Climate Change, inspector general forest and others to file the written statement, while the secretary forest Sindh was asked to appear in person.
A three-judge bench heard the petition of Advocate Qazi Ali Athar who is environmental lawyer. Qazi Ali Athar informed the court that Sindh province has a total of 2,858,748 acres of forest land. Out of 605,583 acres are riverine forests, 182,314 acres are inland forest, 751,063 acres are coastal forest (mangroves) and 1,319,788 acres are rangelands. He said due to the shortage of water in the Indus River, unkind policies and political influence in Forest Department, 90 percent forest land has been deforested and almost entire forest land has been illegally occupied for agriculture purpose by the political mafia, including ministers and public representative facilitated by the Sindh Forest and Revenue Department.
The petitioner alleged that the secretary forest Sindh was involved in the deforestation as he had allotted forest land to his brother Naveed Shah on lease. Justice Umar Atta Bandial inquired under what authority the land was given on lease. Chief Conservator Forest, Sindh, Ejaz Nizamani said that it was done under the Sindh Agro Forest Policy 2005.
The Chief Justice inquired from advocate general Sindh under what consideration the forest land was allotted to Bahria Town. He asked him to provide entire record of the forest land with the maps and tell how many trees were cut. Justice Umar Atta Bandial said that under the law forest land can't be allotted.
The judge inquired from the Chief Conservator of Forests, Sindh, Ejaz Nizamani whether any efforts were made by the provincial government to protect the forests. Ejaz said that in the last three decade 70 to 80 percent forest land was destroyed and given to the housing societies.
According to the petition, on June 19, 2015 the chief minister Sindh has declared in a 'Policy Statement' on national media that 9552 acres of land will be distributed/allotted to the families of martyred (Shaheed) army soldiers on ownership basis. The chief minister Sindh for this purpose issued directives to the chief secretary Sindh and concerning forest department/respondent to move a summary for approval to the chief minister Sindh for the changing of the status of forest situated at Golo Daro, Garhi Yasin, district Shikarpur.
He stated that 3,410 acres of Nasri Forest land in district Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawab Shah) were granted to a developer/private company for developing their third mega project. The entire statutory protected forest was levelled and very recently the project in the name of 'Bahria Town Nawab Shah' was announced.
In Karachi thousands of acres of Kathore Reserve Forests and green belts have been allotted to Bahria Town Karachi. This countrywide forests grabbing is in continuity of their previous projects on the statutory protected forests of Rawalpindi, said the petition.
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