SHC orders removal of encroachments from irrigation department’s land by June 30

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday ordered that the entire exercise of the removal of encroachments from the land of the irrigation department should be completed by June 30, 2021.

The direction came on a petition of Mian Abdul Raheem seeking the removal of encroachments from the properties of the irrigation department all over the province. The petition has been essentially filed for removing encroachments from lands and properties belonging to the irrigation department and pending before the Sukkur bench of the SHC.

A full bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro took exception to the failure of the authorities to comply with the court directives with regard to the removal of the encroachments.

The high court observed that it had on January 14, 2020, directed the Sindh government to remove the encroachments within a period of one month; however, despite the lapse of one year, no cogent justification had been placed before the court to further extend the timeline for an additional period of 10 months.

The Sindh advocate general (AG) placed on record an undertaking duly executed by the ministry of irrigation, chief secretary and irrigation secretary delineating an envisaged roadmap for the removal of the encroachments from the irrigation land.

The AG submitted that the encroachments shall be removed in three phases. In the first phase, the encroachments would be removed from the main irrigation canals, branch canals, distributaries, minors, drains and embankments.

He said the encroachments of commercial nature along with irrigation channels, drains and embankments shall be removed in the second phase and the remaining encroachments of residential houses along with the channel embankments and in residential colonies of the department shall be erased in the third phase.

The SHC observed that since the petition was filed for the removal of encroachments and pertinent directions had also been illumined by the Supreme Court in such regard, it would be appropriate for the high court to confine it to the issue with regard to the removal of the encroachments.

The high court ordered that the entire exercise for the removal of the encroachments from the land of the irrigation department be concluded by June 30, 2021. The SHC ordered that the phase I should be concluded by February 28, phase II by April 30 and phase III by June 30. The SHC observed that the executants of the statement through the AG shall file a progress report in such regard on February 1.

The bench observed that numerous applications had been filed in the petition to agitate individual grievances having factual controversies which could not be entertained in the constitutional jurisdiction. The SHC observed that such grievances may be submitted to a competent jurisdiction that shall decide the same independently upon merit.