7,706 acres of encroached state land in Karachi yet to be reclaimed, SC told

The Sindh Board of Revenue (BoR) informed the Supreme Court’s Karachi Branch Registry on Saturday that 7,706 acres of state-owned land is yet to be cleared of encroachments and recovered from land grabbers in different parts of the city.

Filing a compliance report in the matter of encroached land in the province and the non-computerisation of state land records, BoR Senior Member Baqaullah Unar said the board could not recover 7,706 acres of state land encroached by different elements across the city. Unar said that only 3,299 acres out of the 11,005 acres of state land encroached has been reclaimed.

The SC had directed the BoR to submit a complete district-wise list of encroached state properties with a plan to recover the land and ensuring future protection from encroachment.

Unar informed the SC that all the deputy commissioners of the city had been directed to comply with the court’s directives and their plan to recover the encroached land.

He said the Malir, West, Keamari, Korangi, East and Central districts’ DCs submitted their respective reports mentioning that 11,005 acres, 18,240 square yards and 1,606,560 square feet of land had been found encroached in the city.

He added that according to the Malir DC, 2,595-19 acres could not be cleared of encroachment, and that an anti-encroachment operation would be carried out with the assistance of the Rangers.

He also said that 4,896 acres was encroached in District West, of which 1,567 acres was reclaimed, while 3,330 acres would be retrieved through an anti-encroachment drive.

He pointed out that the physical possession of the retrieved land was handed over to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, and the remaining land after retrieval would be looked after by the BoR and other land-owning agencies.

Unar said that 1,310 acres was found to be encroached in District East, while 114-10 acres in District Korangi, which would be retrieved through an anti-encroachment operation. He said that 16,007 square yards is to be retrieved in District South with the assistance of land-owning agencies.

He also said that 2,088-10 acres and 1,680 square feet was encroached in District Keamari, of which 1,731 acres plus 1,680 square feet including 140 housing units were cleared of encroachments, and the remaining 356 acres would be retrieved through an anti-encroachment drive.

He added that 1-13 acre plus 1,604,880 square feet had been retrieved in District Central and the physical possession was handed over to the Karachi Development Authority for its protection, while 16,007 square yards would be retrieved with the assistance of land-owning agencies.

Unar said that all the DCs have been directed to remove encroachments in their respective districts with the assistance of the anti-encroachment force, the police, the Rangers and the relevant land-owning agencies. He requested time to file further reports in accordance with the directives of the court.

The representatives of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan said that the overall progress was close to the achievement of the entire target in the provinces, and they sought further time to complete the same.

A two-member SC bench comprising Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi directed the law officers of the provinces to do the needful and submit compliance reports on the next date of hearing.

The court also directed the Punjab advocate general to submit a compliance report with regard to the encroachment of state land on the next date of hearing.