Officials put on notice over plea against allotting forest land to army

Karachi
The Sindh High Court issued notices to the Sindh advocate general, the chief secretary, the Board of Revenue member, the forest secretary and others on Tuesday over a petition filed against the provincial government’s decision to allot 9,000 acres of forest land to the Pakistan Army.
The petitioner, Rana Faizul Hasan, submitted that the chief minister had ordered handing over 9,000 acres of forest land to the army on an application filed 14 years ago for the allotment of 35,521 acres in Garhi Yaseen, Shikarpur.
He added that the forest land was being allotted to the army so that it could be distributed among the families of soldiers killed or injured war for agricultural purposes.
The petitioner submitted the apex court in one of its verdict had held that forest land could not be used for any purpose and had cancelled such leases.
He added that the heirs of martyred army personnel could be given cultivated land available in Karachi’s Malir, Gadap, Pano Aqil, Hyderabad or Nawabshah and prayed to the court to set aside the provincial government’s decision.
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Aqeel Abbasi after the preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to the Sindh advocate general, the chief secretary and others, seeking their comments on August 6.
The Sindh government had decided to allot the land at a meeting on June 19. During that meeting, the chief minister said the Pakistan Army had filed an application with the provincial government for the allotment of 35,521 acres of forest land in Garhi Yasin, Shikarpur district in 2001.
However, he noted that the file had been moving from one office to another and as the request had been made for the families of military personnel killed or wounded in war, the request must be honoured.
Shah added that the request for allotment of the land had come from a top-ranked official.
Forest minister Gianchand Israni told the chief minister that the land was located in the area of Golo Daro of Garhi Yasin.
He added that its 5,000 acres were under the illegal occupation of some influential people who were recently vacated by Rangers.
The minister further said of the 25,000 acres of forest land, 5,000 acres belonged to private owners.
Presently, he added, 9,000 acres were available for which his department had no objection if the land was allotted to army martyrs’ families.
Chief secretary Siddiq Memon said the army had requested the allotment of land for the families of 500 martyrs, of them 200 belonged to Sindh and as the request was genuine, it should be entertained.
Shoaib Siddiqui, the senior member of the Board of Revenue, said under the government’s policy, forest land could only be allotted for agricultural purposes.
He added that the army had already conveyed that the land would be used for agriculture purposes and so the government was authorised to allot the land.
Forest secretary Sajjad Abbasi said under the policy, the leaseholder of the forest land was bound to cultivate forests on 20 percent of the total holding and 80 percent for agriculture purposes.
The chief minister, in principle, approved the allotment of the land to the army and directed the chief secretary to move a summary for this purpose.