KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down hard on provincial authorities for leasing out state land to people without any transparent mechanism.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar asked Sindh’s secretary for land utilisation department why land was being given on 99-year and 30-year leases on the basis of favouritism and observed that it must be done through open auction.

A three-judge bench of the SC headed by the chief justice and comprising Justices Sajjad Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar was hearing a set of petitions and suo motu proceedings at the apex court’s Karachi registry.

Dozens of applicants had moved the court asking it to clarify and relax its Nov 28, 2012 judgement in which it had imposed a ban on mutation, allotment, transfer or conversion of any state land.

Some of the applicants submitted that they obtained land on a 30-year lease for poultry farms, farming and other purposes, but the authorities concerned were not granting them extension after the SC judgement. Some others contended that they had applied for lease of state land to set up wind power projects and other industrial and agriculture purposes. However, it was not being processed owing to the restrictions imposed by the apex court, they added.

Applicants seek relaxation in ban on allotment, transfer of state land

The chief justice made it clear that they would not entertain the pleas seeking extension in lease and directed the lawyers of other applicants to come prepared with convincing arguments on Wednesday.

The CJP asked the applicants and provincial authorities that under what law or policy the state land was being leased out to people without open bidding.

Every Pakistani is in debt of Rs117,000 while the authorities concerned were wasting the state resources and leasing out land at throwaway prices, he added.

The chief justice said that they had also ordered open auction for leasing out state land in Punjab for the welfare of the state and the same practice must be adopted in Sindh.

Compensation for slain lawyers’ families

The advocate general of Sindh, Zameer Ghumro, informed the bench that in compliance with its earlier order, compensation had been paid to 46 of the 54 families of lawyers killed in targeted attacks in Sindh.

The provincial law officer said that the remaining families could not be compensated for lack of residential addresses, adding that allotment of land to the affected families was under process.

The bench asked the bar associations to provide details of the remaining families to the advocate general.

Non-payment of salaries in SSIC

The bench directed the provincial authorities to pay salaries to the employees of the Sindh Small Industries Corporation (SSIC).

When the court asked the advocate general that why salaries had not been paid on time, he said that around 800 surplus employees had been appointed in the SSIC and their case was pending before the Sindh High Court.

Justice Shah expressed resentment on the authorities concerned for making appointments on the basis of favouritism and said that now they should pay the salaries and pension to the serving and retired employees.

The chief justice said that the salaries and pensions must be released in due course of time after the advocate general said that a summary had been sent to the authority concerned in this regard and he was pursuing the matter.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2018