Govt land allotted to individuals at throwaway rates, observes SHC

The Sindh High Court on Friday questioned the allotment of Northern Bypass land for villages and inquired a provincial law officer how villages existed on the Northern Bypass land.

Hearing a petition with regard to the allotment of the bypass land to the Feroz Rasheed Goth, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi observed that settling villages had been a method to encroach upon the government land, and directed the revenue department to file comments on the status of the land.

The bench observed that several acres of the government land had been allotted to individuals at throwaway prices and questioned the powers of the Sindh chief minister for such allotments.

The provincial law officer submitted that the land in question was controversial with regard to its allotment to a village and private industry. The SHC directed the revenue department and provincial law officer to submit a report with regard to the status of the land on the next hearing.

The high court also directed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and anti-encroachment department to remove encroachments on footpaths and service roads of University Road near the Hasan Square area.

The petitioner had submitted that service roads and footpaths had been encroached on University Road near Hasan Square and residents of the area were facing hardship in their movement due to such encroachments.