Occupying state land in Malir: Sindh ACE submits final chargesheet against revenue officials, builders

KARACHI: The Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has submitted a final chargesheet in court against senior revenue officials and influential builders for illegally occupying 26 acres of precious state land in District Malir, Karachi and fraudulently altering its status.

Despite a thorough investigation and the submission of a final chargesheet in the Special Court of the Anti-Corruption, construction work continues on the said land. According to the documentary evidence available with The News, besides 26 acres, another piece of 10 acres of state land has also been encroached and some of it has already been sold to other builders. The Sindh government also initiated action against the encroachers and Commissioner Karachi sent a detailed report to the Sindh Chief Minister recommending retrieval of the state land.

According to a physical survey of ‘The News’, two high-rise buildings were under construction on some area of said 36 acres located in Deh Mehran-I and in Deh Safooran, on Jinnah Avenue in Malir Cantt. An official field survey and demarcation ordered by the Sindh High Court also confirmed the land’s status as state-owned. The ACE initiated an inquiry in July 2024 leading to the registration of FIR 08/2024 by ACE East Zone. The case began after a complaint was filed by the Additional Deputy Commissioner-I of District Malir, regarding an illegal land grab facilitated by corrupt government officials. The investigation centres on allegations that private parties, with the support of corrupt government officials of the DC office Malir and Sindh Settlement and Survey Department, illegally seized state land in Deh Mehran-I and Deh Safooran.

In 2022, the Survey Department issued an official demarcation plan, identifying 21 acres of land in Deh Mehran-I and nearly 5 acres in Deh Safooran as government property. The builders, with the help of corrupt revenue officials, allegedly manipulated government records to transfer ownership of the land. After the action taken by authorities, the occupants filed a petition in the Sindh High Court, challenging the legality of the action. In response, the SHC ordered a survey of the land, which confirmed it as state land, illegally occupied by the builders. The final chargesheet submitted by the Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment implicates several revenue officials of the District Commissioner’s office in Malir, as well as officials from the Settlement and Survey Departments. They are accused of facilitating the land grab by falsifying government records and manipulating documents to transfer state land to private developers.

As part of the fraudulent scheme, the occupiers altered the layout plan by changing location numbers and securing approval for the plan from ‘Cantonment Board Faisal in 2010. The investigation revealed that the 2011 demarcation of the land was carried out under the direction of the accused revenue officials, who intentionally omitted critical details indicating the land’s true status as government property. A re-demarcation conducted in 2022 by a neutral technical team, under the supervision of the Sindh High Court, also confirmed that the land was illegally occupied. Following this, the Director of Settlement Survey and Land Records, Sindh, cancelled the fraudulent demarcation of 2011. However, the state land has not yet been retrieved.

The final chargesheet also reveals discrepancies in the actions of some officials of the Sindh Anti-Corruption Department accused of closing the initial inquiry without verification. As a result, ACE has recommended legal action against both the corrupt revenue officials and the private beneficiaries of the illegal land grab. This case highlights the growing problem of land grabbing in Karachi, where powerful private developers, aided by corrupt government officials have frustrated efforts to recover the state land.