Revenue dept did not issue lease in respect of two school properties in Orangi, SHC told

The revenue department did not issue any lease in respect of two school properties famously known as Norwegian German and Korean schools situated in Orangi Town, the West deputy commissioner (DC) told the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday.

Filing a compliance report on a petition against encroachments on schools’ land, the West DC submitted that no lease or ownership within the boundary wall of 61,057-square-yard plot of the Norwegian German school or 9,968-square-yard plot of the Korean school were issued by the revenue department or the DC.

The petitioners have challenged the illegal conversion of the schools’ land into residential plots. The high court had on a pervious hearing ordered the West DC to take concrete steps to restrain land grabbers from encroaching the land and submit a compliance report.

The West DC submitted that moveable encroachments at the Norwegian German school stood removed and now the area of 61,057 square yards of school was partially cleared while the remaining area had residential units whose record had not been provided by the Orangi Township project director.

Regarding the removal of encroachments on 9,968 square yards plot of the Korean school, the DC submitted that a total of 22 constructed houses were found on 3,000 square yards wherein families were residing and for those 22 houses, 12 persons had been issued lease by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) Katchi Abadi authorities.

He submitted that some 6,968 square yards of the 9,968 square yards had been vacated and handed over to the KMC’s Orangi Township authorities. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi after taking the DC’s report on record adjourned the matter till last week of November.

The KMC had earlier submitted in comments that due to the financial crises of the KMC, a proposal had been sent to the KMC metropolitan commissioner for the construction of a government college and hospital under the occupation of the Norwegian Trust and the rest of the area was marked out as residential plots to generate funds and were given to the trustees, employees and workers of the trust.

The KMC had submitted that two plots of 600 square yards were leased to the trustees which were obtained by misrepresentation of facts and the same were used for commercial purposes. The KMC had stated that both the leases were obtained fraudulently and used for commercial purpose for which necessary action for the cancellation of lease deed had been taken by the authorities.