KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Friday expressed concern over the allotment of public land in Sindh and observed that there is no discipline in the province.
Hearing a suo moto proceeding initiated on a news items against an encroachment over 26,000 square yards of a garden at the historical Ladies Club in Larkana, the Supreme Court’s three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, observed that no discipline could be seen in the province and the public land is allotted to anyone without following any law and procedure.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan observed that he will sit in Karachi if he has to for even six months to monitor the issues related to land allotment. The Supreme Court observed that US President Trump has no power to allocate even a cabin in Washington, DC, but in our country, the provincial governments allot public land to whoever they want.
Advocate General Sindh Zamir Ghumro submitted that the 3,000 square yard Ladies Club is part of 20,000 square yard garden that also has a government school, public health centre, library and a press club.
He submitted that the municipal committee also allotted shops in some parts of the garden. He also submitted that encroachments had been removed from 6,000 sq yards garden. The court observed that if the land was reserved for a garden, then it should be used only for that purpose as an amenity land cannot be allotted to a mini golf club or for any private purposes.
The bench observed that the press club and the health centre should also reallocated to some other place. The advocate general submitted that there is also a litigation pending in the Sindh High Court on a piece of land adjacent to the Ladies Club. The court directed production of original record of court proceedings in the SHC or any subordinate courts and issued notices to Evacuee Property Trust and the Pakistan Railways. The court directed deputy commissioner Larkana to submit details regarding the original purpose for which the state land was granted to the municipal committee and whether the committee was legally competent to grant lease or otherwise transfer this land to any person for commercial use.
The management of the Ladies Club had apprehended that the club’s land may be encroached for construction of a commercial building. The chairperson of the club, Dr Sabiha Mughal, had also sought an injunction against the construction of a private hotel adjacent to the club’s land, stating that a portion of the club as well as the adjacent garden have been occupied by a private builder in violation of the law.