Daily Times

KARACHI: Justice Gulzar Ahmad of the Supreme Court on Saturday clarified that the judiciary does not want to run the government from the courts as the institution’s work revolves around constitutional matters only.

During the hearing of a case pertaining to allotment of government land at the Karachi Registry, Justice Gulzar told advocate general of Sindh that according to facts it is evident that the provincial government allotted thousands of acres of land. “Thieves are still sitting on the revenue board,” he remarked. “If the ban on allotment of lands is lifted then your officers will celebrate.”

The judge also stated, “Karachi’s state is visible as soon as one leaves the airport,” and questioned the attorney general regarding the state of governance in the province.

As the hearing proceeded, the SC judge highlighted how Sindh government officers are travelling to London in charted planes for their children’s weddings. “Do you not know which officers booked charter planes?” he asked the attorney general. “Where are they getting this much money from?”

The Supreme Court judge stated that every senior government officer in Sindh considers himself as a king and the untouchable. He said that large tracts of land in Karachi have been illegally occupied. He also advised the attorney general to tell the mayor and the chief minister to pay heed to the affairs of the city and the province.

Hearing a petition filed by former Karachi nazim Naimatullah Khan, the two-member SC bench comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Gulzar Ahmed ordered authorities to bulldoze illegal buildings, wedding halls, political parties’ offices and other illegal cement structures along with Kashmir Road as well as other parts of Karachi.

The city is being ruined, Justice Gulzar said, while expressing his anger. “Is there anyone who will take responsibility for it?” Recalling that he used to play cricket in China Ground when he was young, the judge noted that the land has been converted into a developed property. He ordered the authorities concerned to demolish offices built there and retrieve the playground. Illegal buildings will not be tolerated on the lands allocated for the community, he added.

Justice Gulzar also questioned the construction of new shopping malls, saying they seem to serve ‘no good’ to the people since locally manufactured products were not sold there. Even our labourers are losing their jobs to Chinese now, he said, apparently in reference to various sanitation projects in city being handed over to foreign contractors.

The bench admonished Sindh Attorney General Zamir Ghumro for not taking any action against provincial officials involved in land grabbing. “What is Sindh government doing? What it wants us to do?” a visibly annoyed judge asked.

The court also ordered the AG to submit a complete computerised record of province’s revenue along with details of its standard operating procedures within a month.

On reports that 648 acres of government land was plagued with illegal encroachments in Kotri, assistant commissioner of Kotri was summoned and ordered to remove all encroachments within a month. “Take indiscriminate action against everyone involved in setting up encroachments on government land,” the bench ordered, warning him that “no one can save you if you are found involved in any irregularities.” The process of removing encroachments should start from Sunday morning, the court ordered.

Published in Daily Times, April 8^th 2018.