KARACHI: The Supreme Court has directed provincial authorities to remove encroachments from all state land across the province.
An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed directed a senior member of the Board of Revenue’s (BOR) to submit a report detailing all government lands under encroachment and tose retrieved from land grabbers.
The court further instructed the revenue department to restore parks and playgrounds to their original condition and clear greenbelts from illegal encroachment. The bench asked the BOR to take steps for protecting its land.
The court also ordered the removal of encroachments from the lands of the forest and agriculture departments. It summoned reports from all deputy commissioners and Mukhtiarkars of the province.
While addressing the senior member of the BOR, the chief justice said that several parallel systems are running in the revenue department’s office, and ten-storey buildings are being built in the city.
He remarked that there are encroachments along the Super Highway and entire cities are being built there. The BOR official said that the department retrieved 4,000 acres of state land in Malir alone.
Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, a member of the bench, remarked that the land record in Thatta has been tampered with. The court directed to retrieve all public lands before adjourning the case.
