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KARACHI, April 30: The Sindh High Court has restrained the provincial government from transferring private land to the Defence Housing Authority for development of its phase nine near Malir.
A number of petitioners submitted through Advocate Adnan Memon that thousands of acres at Deh Khadeji and Deh Abdar inherited by them from their ancestors were being transferred by the provincial government to the DHA. They also have their ancestral graveyard in the area.
According to the DHA, however, the land was being lawfully acquired and 50 per cent of the price had already been paid.
A division bench comprising Justices Amir Hani Muslim and Yasmin Abbasy adjourned the hearing to May 3 and barred the transfer of land in the meantime.
CLAIM AGAINST PAF: Another division bench consisting of Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Hussain Jafri, meanwhile, gave the military estate officer another two months to decide the claim of Nur Begum, who claims that her 42 acres have been occupied by the PAF for its Malir airbase.
On a petition moved by her in 1999, the court had directed the estate officer in February 2003 to decide the matter within six months. According to the military land office, the area was acquired in the 1940s.
Petitioner Nur Begum sued for contempt when her claim was not settled by the estate officer even after a lapse of four years. Giving two months more to the respondent, the bench omitted the names of the PAF base commander and the administrative officer from the list of alleged contemnors.
