KARACHI, Aug 23: One may hardly find a senior police officer without a vehicle obtained from the car pool of Nazarat, where the vehicles declared 'case property' are kept in safe custody till the case it is involved in is finally disposed of.
There are certain conditions under which such a vehicle can be handed over to its owner or user. However, a lot of the case property vehicles appeared to be in use of police officers or some influential figures.
According to the general directive issued by courts of law, supurdari (safe custody) is basically meant for the legal owner of the vehicle kept at Nazarat. The vehicle is supposed to be handed over to the legal owner only when the case is disposed of, according to a senior police official.
Before getting the vehicle released from Nazarat, its owner has to promise that the vehicle would be produced before the court as and when ordered by the court. In case the legal owner of such a vehicle is not traceable because of certain reasons, the vehicle could be handed over to the user from whom it has been recovered, but on the same other conditions.
The relevant law does not allow any third condition for the release of a case property vehicles to any other person unless ordered by a court or a competent authority.
Mr Najeeb Danawala, the nominee of the Citizens-Police Liasion Committee (CPLC) at Nazarat, said that as per the order of the Sindh High Court, the vehicles kept at Nazarat could not be handed over to any person other than the owner.
He maintained that the vehicles handed over to certain officials for official use had been given in their use under the orders of the competent authority, the provincial home department.
"We make sure that if the owner of such a vehicle turns up with a release order issued by a court, the official using the vehicle will restore it to Nazarat for subsequent handing over to the claimant," said Mr Danawala.
Sources told Dawn that in the year 2000, it was decided at a meeting held at the Corps Headquarters, Karachi, that Nazarat vehicle be obtained for use by law-enforcement agencies. Accordingly, an order in this regard was issued by the home department.
Soon afterwards, a considerable number of vehicles were obtained by intelligence agencies, sources said. "One may easily find such vehicles often passing through various roads, especially Sharea Faisal, with private or odd registration numbers, such as in alphabetical series of (R)," they added.
According to them, a good number of senior police officials have been using a Nazarat vehicle in good condition. "The TPO of Jamshed Town has also been using a three-door jeep, Land Cruiser, obtained from Nazarat," the sources claimed, adding that since the jeep had been obtained from Nazarat, it did not have the entitlement of official fuel quota.
As such, the sources claimed, various SHOs of the his town obliged him in arranging day to day requirement of fuel. The source further pointed out that the Nazarat appeared to be a source of genuine spare parts, obviously for the 'rich and famous' having obtained a vehicle from Nazarat.
Though, the owner or an authorized user of a vehicle kept at Nazarat may get back his vehicle after completing legal formalities, the process in most cases is not simple as that. Those having an experience of getting released such a vehicle, especially the one handed over to someone for official purposes, may better reveal his ordeal.
Mr Najeeb realizes the trouble and sufferings of the affected people. Stressing the need for 'one-window operation' for the convenience of the claimants of a vehicle, he suggests that such a facility should have been on the premises of Nazarat. He proposes that two magistrates and two officials of excise department should be assigned the task and deputed at Nazarat for the purpose.
The officials in charge of Nazarat are legally bound to hold auction of unclaimed Nazarat vehicles on a regular basis. The revenues generated through the auction have to be deposited in government's treasury.
"No such auction has been held over the past five years," officials told Dawn recently. After the first such auction in 1994, only three auctions have been held - in 1996, 1997 and 1998. The auctions had generated revenues amounting to more than Rs30 million.
The only Nazarat in Karachi, at present located behind Aziz Bhatti Park, was established in 1991-92 at a place near Hasan Square, Gulshan-i-Iqbal. Sources in the CPLC maintained that they were trying to effect resumption of the process. In this connection, they had written to the DDO Revenue, but things remained unmoved, they added.
The sources pointed out that under Section-134 of the Police Order-2002, the Public Safety Commission and sessions courts were supposed to play an active role in expediting the process of auction. Before the promulgation of the Police Order, the task had been assigned, under Police Act, to district magistrates.
