KARACHI - Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday assigned Assistant Registrar of the court to stop the illegal constructions on railway land in Nawabshah district and submit report in the next date to be fixed later. SHC division bench consisting Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani and Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh issued the direction while conducting hearing on constitutional petition moved by Qurban Ali and others, seeking vacate railway land of Pandhi Railway Station, Nawabshah. The petitioners submitted that a big portion of the railway land had been encroached by land mafias who were constructing shops. They maintained that further illegal constrictions were still ongoing but so far no serious action has been taken against them. The plaintiffs also mentioned in the petition that the higher ups of railway department had also admitted about the encroachments but they showed their helplessness for taking any action in this regard. It was also pointed out that a gas pipeline has been set up under the land of the station wherein the mafias have made illegal constructions, while the entire area is being supplied gas from the said underground pipeline. The petitioners warned that the gas line might hurt, if encroachments would not be stopped. Mohammad Nawaz Sheikh Advocate appeared before the court on the behalf of the petitioners as arguing that the entire district was suffering due to encroachments, he pleaded to vacate the railway lands from the encroachment mafias. The court after hearing his arguments has directed the Assistance Registrar of SHC to visit to the said railway station and stop the encroachments and submit his report before the court in the next date. AC puts off hearing on graft charges against Durrani Accountability Court Judge Raja Riaz Rajpot on Friday adjourned the hearing on a corruption reference against Sindh Local Government (LG) Minister Agha Siraj Durrani, till February 3. The provincial minister along with his counsel showed up in the court. The court directed that magistrate of the area concerned to record the statement of the witness Imam Bukhsh Soomro, former Director Technical of Pak-Swiss Institute at his resident on January 28 as he had suffered a stroke, which left him unable to move. At the last hearing, Tariq Soomro, the son of Imam Bukhsh Soomro produced a medical certificate in the court, requesting that his father had a stroke, which left him unable to turn up in the court. The court while granting the request, issued directions to the magistrate of the area concerned to record his statement at his house. The NAB filed corruption reference against the minister for alleged irregularities in the purchase of furniture for Pak-Swiss Technical Institute during the previous PPP government, causing Rs5.5 million loss to the national exchequer. Durrani was then serving as the Sindh education minister in 1995. The reference was withdrawn after the promulgation of the NRO in 2008. However, it has been reopened after the Supreme Court (SC) declared the NRO as null and void. Later, talking to the media people, Sindh LG Minister Siraj Durrani termed the corruption charges against him as trumped up, saying that the then NAB chairman had made false charges against him. He said that when fabricated cases against the PPP ministers could be reopened cases against other politicians would also be reopened. About the local bodies election, he said that the two coalition partners in the Sindh government - the PML-F and ANP had already agreed to the appointment of administrators in the province to conduct the elections. However, a reply from key ally MQM is yet to be received in this regard, he added. Durrani said that a proposal to conduct the local bodies elections before the summer was under consideration but the matter would be taken up in the cabinet meeting for a final decision.