KARACHI, Feb 19: A division bench of the Sindh High Court directed the district coordination officer (DCO) of Karachi and and the revenue chief of the city district government on Wednesday to appear personally on March 6 to explain execution of a lease deed by the government in respect of a piece of land falling in the jurisdiction of the Lyari Expressway Project despite point blank denials by it and the Sindh government.

The bench comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and S. Ali Aslam Jafri came across a lease deed executed by the city government in favour of the PIB Cooperative Housing Society Limited as late as September 2002. The city and provincial governments had been consistently taking the stand that the area forming part of the expressway was owned by the Sindh government and neither the new government setup nor its predecessor, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, had any authority to allot or lease it out.

The petitioners, on the contrary, had been asserting that they derived their ownership from the allotment letters and lease agreements signed by the KMC in their favour after receiving all the dues. They said they could not be deprived of their residential accommodation and business premises by the new city government or even by the provincial government.

The bench expressed its dismay over misleading statements by the city and provincial governments and summoned the two key city government officials to appear personally and explain the matter.