KARACHI   -  The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday rejected a report furnished by a senior member of the Board of Revenue (BoR) stating that encroachment on 70 percent of land across Sindh had been retrieved. The apex court ordered him to end the occupation on all government land in the province with visibility of action taken in a practical form.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed, while hearing a case related to the digitisation of government land records in Sindh, directed BoR senior member Shamsuddin Soomro to submit a report in 30 days and ensure implementation of the court orders within the stipulated timeframe.

“In case of failure to implement the court orders, a contempt case will be initiated and you will go to jail,” the CJP told the government officer. It will take us just five minutes to pass an order, the top judge said.

While rejecting the report submitted by the BoR’s senior official, the chief justice expressed displeasure over the contents of the report, asking “Are you trying to fool us by submitting pictures of the corners of land?” “Don’t play games with us,” the CJP reprimanded the officer and asked whether his department was oblivious to the fact that half of the government land in the province was occupied.

The chief justice also asked the BoR official whether he was a part of the [land] mafia. “ Are these 15 and 20-storey buildings [in Karachi] legal?”  He added that all such buildings were constructed in connivance with the revenue department. The officer responded that he would do his job in light of the court orders. 

Also, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed said during a hearing at the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry on Thursday that K-Electric (KE) is just making money. At the outset of the hearing, the top judge expressed annoyance at the K-Electric’s performance. KE is only making money,” CJP Ahmed said. “It blackmails people and charges money from them for electricity that is stolen.”