KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has imposed a cost of Rs200,000 on a litigant for having illegally occupied government land for over 35 years.

The court also directed the respondent officials of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to deposit the cost of Rs100,000 for their inaction for 16 years.

Applicant Shaikh Imran Ahmed had obtained an interim stay order from the SHC on Jan 25, 2001 after the KDA moved the court against the judgement of a lower court in his favour regarding the possession of a 522-square-yard plot in North Karachi.

The court observed in its judgement that the applicant was guilty of abusing the process of court and “apparently officials of the Anti-Encroachment Cell, KDA/law department of the KDA were also in connivance with the applicant”.

The judge further remarked that there was no serious contest from the KDA when their action was challenged by the applicant in court. “If the court start accepting such frivolous claims and start issuing directions to the respondent/ KDA who were already looking for a pretext of court orders to regularise illegal possession on the government land then every inch of the state land would be awarded to the unscrupulous persons by the unscrupulous government functionaries in violation of the legal requirements for disposal of government land in the name of possession of occupants for several years,” the judge added.

The judge wrote that the courts were not supposed to help illegal occupants of the state land to perpetuate their possession on the government land. “The applicant had no case on merit and even on law, however, he had a meaningful long silence of KDA administration with him,” he remarked.

The court observed that the KDA never showed any interest in the revision application and on every date of hearing the applicant was facilitated in getting adjournment and, therefore, the interim status quo order had continued ever since.

“The applicant has been so confident about taking adjournment that from 2-4-2008 his counsel stopped coming to the court and the applicant was comfortable getting adjournment mostly on the frivolous ground that his counsel was busy in another court or not well,” he said.

The judge wrote in his judgement that the court on March 7, 2016 noticed the abuse of the court process by the applicant, who claimed adjournment on the pretext of illness of his counsel who had not appeared in court for the past eight years.

“In view of the above facts and discussion while dismissing this revision application, I am constrained to impose cost of Rs200,000 on the applicant for illegally occupying government land for 35-40 years including 26 years in courts, and the respondents are also directed to deposit cost of Rs100,000 on account of their willful inaction for 16 years which has definitely resulted in damaging the image of judiciary,” the judge ordered.

The bench further ordered the KDA to remove the encroachment from the state land within 10 days and file a compliance report in court.

The court also directed the KDA to hold an inquiry against its officer in terms of Section 8(2) of the Encroachment Act, 1975.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2016

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