Sindh govt revives disbanded land committee

KARACHI: The Sindh Government has reconstituted previously disbanded ‘the Sindh Government Land Committee’ after the passage of six years, in the last days of the provincial government tenure.

According to the official notification the Committee was formed under section 4 of the Sindh government land (cancellation of allotments, conversions, and exchange) Ordinance 2000. Earlier the Committee was formed in 2001 during the tenure of former President General (r) Pervez Musharraf through an Ordinance to reassess all cases pertaining to land allotment or conversion of plots at lower rates than market value between January 1985 and 2000.

According to the notification issued by the Department of Sindh Services General Administration and Coordination Department, former judge of Sindh High Court Farooq Ali Chana has been appointed as the Chairman of the Committee, while 18-grade officers have been appointed as Members of Sindh Land Utilization (LU) Board of Revenue, one officer of Anti-corruption Department, one officer of Law Department , one officer of Finance Department, deputy commissioner of the relevant district and deputy secretary of Land Utilization Board of Revenue appointed as the members of the Committee. The Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had disbanded the same following some complaints in August 2017.

The Sindh Government Land Committee is tasked with regularization of the plots if the allottees agreed to pay the differential amount of the cost of land and they would be cancelled if the allottees failed to pay, as per the terms of reference (TORs) of Committee. Spokesman of Sindh Chief Minister Rasheed Ahmad Channa told The News that this was a routine matter and the Sindh Government Land Committee has been re-established to resolve the pending land issues and there was nothing special in this act. As per the policy of Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Shah all members of the Committee have been directed to strictly follow the rules, laws, and transparency while performing their work.