HYDERABAD, July 9: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to the director general and superintendent of Livestock and Fisheries Department, director of Animal Husbandry, manager of Livestock Experiment Station and Livestock Experiment Station Nabisar on a constitutional petition.

The petitioner, Hamid Ali, said that the respondent officials of Livestock and Fisheries Department were preparing to oust him and many others who were permanent tenants of a livestock farm supervised by the department and requested the court to stop them from doing so.

Mr Ali said that the department established Thar Cattle Farm near Kunri town. The farm was looked after by Livestock Experiment Station Nabisar Road where the respondents were posted.

The station consisted of three sections, Shaliwah, Ranawah and Rajari Pat. Rajari Pat was set up on agricultural land and was being looked after by registered tenants including the petitioner who was headman of the area, he said.

The place where he and other tenants of Rajari Pat were settled was known as Hamid Ali village, which was one of the seven villages in the section.

The petitioner said that the tenants were appointed permanently by the respondents as per rules. The respondents gave them pieces of land and cattle on equal share basis, he said.

He said that he was one of the registered permanent tenants who had been working on “Rajari-Pat” for more than 50 years under the supervision and command of Livestock Experiment Station.

He said that the tenants had been paying the government due share in earnings from the allotted land. They had rights and their tenancy could not be terminated at the whims of respondents, he said.

The tenants came to know about the news that the department was planning to lease out the cattle farm to a foreign company after terminating the Livestock Experiment Station programme, Mr Ali said.

When the tenants including the petitioner approached the superintendent of Livestock Experiment Station and asked about the news he did not give any reply. He remained silent to the tenants’ offer that they could take the land on lease, he said.

He prayed that the court declare leasing out of cattle farm including Rajari Pat as illegal, order the department not to oust registered tenants from the land allotted to them on permanent basis and restrain the respondent ministry from taking any action with regard to leasing out of cattle farm to any foreign company.