KARACHI, Dec 26: Following repeal of the Sindh Disposal of Urban Land Ordinance-2002 on November 11, the city government is now left with no statutorily prescribed procedure to dispose of its land, and the situation may pave the way for some major land scams.
According to sources, since the repeal of this ordinance, which provided guidelines and ensured transparency in the affairs, the Land and Revenue Department of the CDGK is in quandary viz-a-viz procedure for disposal of land.
Besides, the sources said, the repeal has also rendered doubtful around Rs1.5 billion revenue it was generating annually through auction of land.
Earlier, even the apartments constructed by the CDGK on its flat sites were being disposed of through open public auction, they added.
It may be recalled here that the Sindh Disposal of Urban Land Ordinance-2002 had barred the disposal of any plot or apartment without any open auction. This had helped the government prevent indiscriminate disposal of land by the authorities concerned at throw away prices.
“Everyone knows that officials, as well as the elected representatives, had equally been involved in the disposal of precious pieces of land, either by violating the relevant rules or by abusing their power, for decades, inflicting heavy losses to the exchequer,” said a source.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the Sindh governor, in 2002, had promulgated the Sindh Disposal of Urban Land Ordinance-2002 in a bid to stop illegal allotment of government lands which had assumed an alarming level by that time, the sources added.
However, they said, the surprise move to repeal the ordinance might create a similar situation which had ruined the city on the one hand, and inflicted heavy losses to the exchequer, on the other.
“Following the repeal of the ordinance, the authorities and departments concerned would now be free to dispose of pieces of land without any auction, a procedure which was meant to ensure transparency to a great extent,” said a CDGK officer on request of anonymity.
In a bid to ensure transparency in the land affairs, open auction for the disposal of plots or residential units built on government lands had been made mandatory in the cited ordinance.
The rule 6 of the ordinance says: “No plot or flat site shall be disposed of except by open public auction at a price not less than the market price.”
As far as the issue of price of land is concerned, the rule 9 of the ordinance says: “Government shall determine and notify the market price and occupancy value for different areas and for different land use in the prescribed manner after every two years.”
Besides setting rules for the disposal of land, the ordinance had barred the conversion of the nature of amenities, by declaring: “No amenity plot shall be converted to or utilized for any purpose other than the purpose for which it is reserved.” For instance, if a plot is reserved for a park, not even hospital or school could be built on it.
Though the ordinance had allowed the Sindh government to make rules, through notification in the official gazette, for carrying out the purposes of this ordinance, the ordinance had made clear that “no rule shall be made so as to provide for exercise of discretionary power to dispose of urban land, nor shall the rules contain any provision of relaxation.”
The sources recalled that the successive governments had faced serious problems due to the indiscriminate disposal of land in the absence of the 2002 ordinance.
In 1996, they said, after assuming the charge of administrator of the defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Fahim Zaman, drew attention of the then prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, to the illegal allotments made over several years, fearing that Karachi might be ruined if illegal allotments and conversion of amenity plots continued.
Subsequently, they said, several such allotments were cancelled after litigation. They pointed out that such cases also included the illegal allotment of considerably big carved out portions of amenity plots, even Bagh Ibn-i- Qasim, Clifton.
Later, during the tenures of other governments too, new laws were framed and committees formed to deal with the problems in the aftermath of the illegal allotments, the sources added. However, they said, the violation of the related rules continued, aggravating the problem further.
On October 25, 2001, the Sindh governor promulgated an Ordinance “The Sindh Urban State Land (Cancellation of Allotments, Conversations and Exchanges) Amendment Ordinance 2001. Subsequently, a committee was formed to ascertain the losses caused to the exchequer through the illegal allotments made during 1985-1996 period, so that damages could be recovered from the concerned allottees by making them to pay the price in accordance with the market price.
The sources said that former city nazim Niamatullah Khan, however, had expressed some reservations over the process of recovery of differential from all such allottees, and suggested to the authorities concerned to exempt those who possessed residential plots up to 240 square yards. Later, the sources added, the committee while disposing of the cases pertaining to 1990-1996 period had recommended exemption of the residential plots measuring up to 120 square yards in Surjani Town. It also allowed some relaxation in case of the plots located in certain other parts of the city.
The sources said that the violation of the related rules had been on rise in different forms prior to the promulgation of the 2002 ordinance.
One could gauge the difficulties and complexities faced by the successive governments and departments concerned following the illegal and indiscriminate allotments, the sources said, adding that the 2002 ordinance had been promulgated to curb such practices. “It does not mean that some elements in the provincial government, as well as the CDGK, stopped violating the rules, but such corruption cases had been controlled to a great extent,” a source remarked.
The sources apprehended that by repealing the ordinance, the government might have deliberately invited the similar situation, which in the past had inflicted an irreparable loss to the exchequer and played havoc with the state land in the city, the sources added.
No one could stop the authorities concerned from disposing of residential, commercial or amenity plots in accordance with their own criteria, they added.
They said that it would also provide an ample opportunity to those who maintained good connections in the higher provincial or CDGK authorities to get alternative plots in the areas of their choice.
District Officer (Land) Tariq Naseer told Dawn that at the moment, disposal of land was suspended as amendments were being made in the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2001. The new criteria or procedure of land disposal could be finalized after necessary amendments, he added.
