Sindh: Law passed to retrieve govt lands

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Imtiaz Ali
The Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a law on Wednesday, enabling the government to recover “thousands of acres of valuable land” usurped after Jan 1, 1985, through “bogus entries” in the record-of-rights. This land had been taken over on the basis of forged documents or in violation of the law.

The “Cancellation of Bogus Entries (in the record-of-rights) of Government Land Bill-2009” also gives people the right to appeal against the government’s orders.

Revenue Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar said that the menace of bogus entries started after 1985 but it assumed dangerous proportions during the last 10 years. Hundreds of thousands of acres of government lands were usurped through bogus entries in districts Karachi, Jamshoro and Thatta during last decade, he said, adding that if he disclosed details, they would be mind-boggling.

The revenue minister further said that this usurpation of official land was one of the pernicious effects of the local government system. He claimed that the revenue record was deliberately set on fire by rogue elements, following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007. He said that elements involved in bogus entries instigated people to set fire to revenue offices. Dahar promised, however, that these records would be recovered on a “war-footing”. The minister said that he had stopped land transactions in Thatta, and an inquiry has also been ordered into bogus entries.

Dahar complained that certain colleagues of his were sending “recommendations” (Sifarish) to him to not take action against the revenue official in Thatta. “Please, help me, I want to work with honesty,” Dahar said, adding that if action is not taken, the situation might deteriorate further. He said that 90 per cent of the revenue officials (Tapedar and Mukhtiarkar) were involved in these bogus entries.

The revenue department was also taking concerted efforts to computerise land records, he said. Dahar announced that a complaint cell will be set up in the revenue office to entertain complaints from the general public against the revenue officials. The minister said that he had clearly given instructions to Mukhtiarkars to respond to applications from people for the “Seventh form” (document related to ownership of land) within seven days. He said that the role of the Tapedar in such matters was being curtailed to reduce corruption in the department.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) parliamentary leader, Syed Sardar Ahmed, said that this special law was being introduced to cancel bogus entries because bringing required amendments in the Land Revenue Act was a lengthy procedure. He recalled that Sindh adopted Punjab’s revenue act in 1967 during One-Unit, but the “record-of-rights” was not corrected. He said that there was a provision in the Act, under which, occupiers of official lands were allowed to get land regularised after 20 years of occupation. Ahmed said that hundreds of thousands of acres of government land on the Super Highway and the National Highway had been occupied. He said that the outgoing government had ordered an inquiry into it and a 30- to 40-page inquiry report was also submitted. Regrettably, however, no action was taken, he said.

Ahmed explained that bogus entries relating to government land made prior to 1985 could be cancelled under the land revenue act.

Opposition leader Jam Madad also supported the Bill. He said that the bill should be referred to the standing committee on law to amend it according to suggested given by legislators. Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro observed, however, that legislators could bring amendments in the bill even after it was passed.

Law minister Ayaz Soomro said that bogus entries have been made in the land record for a long time, resulting in the loss of millions of rupees to the government. He said that this law intends to recover official land, but it also gives the aggrieved party the right of appeal against the official order of cancellation of land.

Workd Minister Manzoor Wasan said that certain people usurped official land in Taluka Nara in Khairpur, where gas was discovered. Government land was sold to foreign companies at cost of Rs2,500,000 per acre.

Sardar Jam Tamachi feared that the new law might bring a “storm of litigation” and create more troubles. Therefore, he stressed that there was urgent need to computerise land records.

Shaharyar Mahr, Taimur Talpur, Anwar Mahr, Makhtoom Jamil, Rafiq Engineer, Munawar Abbasi, Humera Alwani, Bachal Shah, Khalid Ahmed and Rukhsana Shah also spoke. Some legislators suggested that bogus entries made in private lands should also included in the law.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=204494