Rs 7 bn land lease to be cancelled after SC intervention
By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: The lease of state land measuring more than 75,000 sq yards situated in the heart of Karachi, with a market value assessed at Rs 7 billion is now being cancelled. The land was leased out to a private party for 99 years by the present Sindh government for a mere Rs 155 million.

Following the Supreme Court’s suo moto notice taken on a report in The News highlighting the plunder of the state land at throwaway prices, the Sindh government recently conducted an inquiry into this allotment, which now admits that the sale of the land was irregular, and is seeking its cancellation.

Member Land Utilisation Subhan Memon when contacted confirmed that the inquiry conducted into the matter seeks cancellation of the allotment. He said the inquiry report has been submitted to the chief minister Sindh, who would take the final decision.

The member Land Utilisation Sindh said the apex court has also been provided the copy of the inquiry report that has also recommended fresh assessment of the land’s market price so that it could get a better value.

Earlier following The News report and the suo moto notice taken by the chief justice of Pakistan, the government has already cancelled another allotment of the state land measuring 50 acres in Karachi given for peanuts. In that case of contempt of the highest judicial forum — the Supreme Court of Pakistan —, an official committee, comprising middle ranking officials, had allowed regularisation of 50 acres of Karachi land at throwaway prices thus causing losses running into hundreds of millions to the state exchequer for the benefit of a few.

Interestingly, the committee of baboos had practically set aside the Supreme Court’s order that had found the beneficiary guilty of having benefited from “reprehensible acts on the part of highest executive authority in the province.”

The committee while regularising the allotment had fixed a meagre price of Rs 0.8 million per acre for a land with a market value of Rs 30 million per acre and which even in 1994-1997, was assessed to be worth Rs 5 million per acre.

Following The News report all the members of the committee and the allotee, Ghulam Mustafa Memon, appeared before the apex court that issued them a contempt notice after they had offered to undo the allotment. The beneficiary, Ghulam Mustafa Memon, also told the court that he was voluntarily returning the land to the government.

The state land measuring more than 75,000 sq yards situated at the Civic Centre, Karachi, was assessed three times with a market value of Rs 7 billion (in 2007), Rs 3.76 billion (in 1998) or Rs 2.636 billion (in 2006) by the District Price Fixation Committee.

However, the provincial government adopted none of these figures. Instead, a special meeting of the District Price Fixation Committee, headed by the EDO Revenue, was arranged to get assessed its market price and brought it down to Rs 8,230 per square yard (Rs 40m per acre), which brought the land price from Rs 3.6 billion (@35000 per sq yd) in 2006 to Rs 620 million in 2009. And when it came to the finalisation of the deal, the land was sold for 1/4 of this highly under-assessed price.

Sources in the Sindh government expect the cancellation of more lands in near future as there are several other cases of highly controversial allotments. In one case, an allotment of the state land was made, which was thrice seen as fraud but finally found genuine by the present government. In another case, a graveyard land was allotted to another favourite, who later sought for allotment of the alternate land.

This was done in view of the report of the EDO (Revenue), which informed that the land in question was being used as graveyard. It should be noted here the Supreme Court has sought the details of all the allotments of state land made by the Sindh government during the last 10 years.