HYDERABAD, Nov 27: Expressing dismay over the way of functioning of government officials, the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, on Tuesday took serious notice of the non-payment of compensation of the Land Acquisition Award passed several years back to no less than 22 petitioners.

The division bench comprising Mr Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Mr Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany have said that the officials responsible for the non-payment of compensation amount would be dealt with in a way they deserved.

Today, the secretaries of Irrigation and Finance departments were required to attend the court. Both had been issued notices on two separate constitutional petitions, filed by Syed Khadim Hussain Shah and Syed Ghulam Shah through Advocate Ghulam Rasool Qureshi. However, none of them turned up. The petitioners were praying for payment of more than Rs1.1 million.

Deputy Secretary of Finance Manzoor Ahmed Memon appeared before the court only to inform it that he did not know what the matter was as he received the notice late for today’s hearing.

Executive Engineer Thar Division M. Mithal Unnar also appeared before the court with his oral explanation. Similarly, Managing Director of Sindh Irrigation Drainage Authority did not appear before the court on Nov 20 when the court called for his personal appearance on Nov 14.

Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed observed that there was no one to see the plight of those people whose property had been taken by the government but they had not been paid a single penny of the amount due to be paid under the Land Acquisition Act (LAA) for decades.

He said that regardless of the fact that what the officials concerned were doing the liability lay with the Sindh government, and added that it could not be taken as an excuse that so-and-so department did not prepare the summary or furnish correct details of the amounts concerning each petitioner or those whose lands had been utilized for different purposes in various projects by the government.

An offer has to come from the Additional Advocate General Sindh on behalf of the government as to why the law could not be and is not being enforced, he remarked.

Expressing his anger, Justice Ahmed maintained that there had to be a limit as enough was enough and now was the time that the matter should be decided in accordance with the law.

As the deputy secretary, Finance, tried to interject to say that the Irrigation Department did not prepare a list of those people who were entitled to the payment of the Land Acquisition Award and that the government had released more than Rs30 million to the Land Acquisition Officer to be distributed to different khatedars whose lands were acquired but the Sindh Finance Department did not know as to how much and to whom this amount had been disbursed as the LAO and Irrigation Department was not providing the list to the Finance ministry.

The bench observed, “This is not our headache as it is your problem to see what has gone wrong.”

Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed recalled that when the court had issued a contempt of court notice to the Chief Secretary Sindh in the matter of Ghulam Rasool Qureshi and when the notice was served on the chief secretary, the cheque of compensation was also handed over to Qureshi’s client.

However, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany pointed out that Qureshi was awarded with the removal of his name from the panel of Sindh Government lawyers.

When the XEN, Thar, Division, Mithal Unnar complained that he was tired of writing to the Land Acquisition Officer of Sanghar asking him to provide the list of those people whom the payment had been made.

Justice Osmany said, “You should get an FIR lodged against the LAO concerned and put him in jail.” He also told the deputy secretary, Finance, “You are a civil servant. It is your duty to do the job because you are being paid for it like us. A layman is not concerned who is responsible for the irregularities. He is simply interested in the fact that he is not paid the money of his land, acquired by the government.

“We are living in Hyderabad since a month. You should better stay at a hotel or circuit house but decide these matters,” Justice Osmany told the deputy secretary when he said that he would have to come back to Hyderabad from Karachi again on Wednesday.

The court regretted that despite repeated notices being sent to the officials concerned they seemed to be least bothered to take the matter seriously.

“Now we will deal with the officials the way they deserve,” Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed declared.

The court directed the Additional Attorney General, Sindh, the petitioners’ lawyers and the officials to sort out the cases as the court would decide all 22 matters on Wednesday.