September 11, 2007	Tuesday	Sha'aban 28, 1428

LAYYAH, Sept 10: All cases pertaining to adjustment of Thal Development Authority (TDA) lands pending with the court of executive district officer revenue (EDOR) have been withdrawn from his court and entrusted to the Punjab Board of Revenue (BoR) in Lahore for their onward disposal.

On several complaints filed by general public, BoR Senior Member Establishment Safder Javed Sayyed on Aug 27 directed that all cases under Rule (6) of TDA Act, 1973, and Section 14 (1) and (3) of the Land Revenue Act, 1967, and fresh appeals pertaining to adjustment of TDA lands to be instituted in future in the court of EDOR should immediately be transferred to the BoR’s Principal Seat in Lahore.

The cases include appeals of TDA lands pending in the court of EDOR, Ghulam Akber Khichi, against the orders passed by him as district officer revenue (DOR), and all appeals pending in his court against orders passed by all deputy district officers revenue (DDOR) of the Layyah district.

The BoR senior member establishment also ordered that all these cases would be decided by a full board consisting of member consolidation and member judicial.

EDOR Ghulam Akber Khichi was posted assistant commissioner, Choubara, some nine years back. Later, he became DDOR of the same tehsil as he had support and backing of powerful land mafia and influential political figures. Subsequently, Khichi was promoted to the rank of DOR but he was not transferred anywhere and instead posted Layyah DOR.

A BoR inspection team led by Malik Muhammad Ayub visited the district some two years ago and traced some files of illegal land adjustment ordered by Khichi in the capacity of DOR.

On Malik Muhammad Ayub’s report, Khichi was though transferred and ordered to report to the Services and General Administration Department in Lahore, but, because of strong connections, he managed to stay in Layyah as district officer coordination and after some time he got himself posted as EDOR.

Presently, around 500 cases of TDA are pending in his court including appeals against his own orders he had passed as DOR, which is contrary to the principles of natural justice.

Malik Ghulam Muhammad Awan, a local advocate, has questioned the wisdom behind BoR’s decision to shift all cases from EDOR to BoR instead of transferring a single delinquent official.

“If inquiry report prepared by Malik Muhammad Ayub was not kept on the back burner on the pressure of political lords, Khichi might have been sacked from his service,” Awan added.

He urged the chief minister to order a through probe into the matter and all corrupt officials having connections with land mafia should be taken to the task immediately.