HYDERABAD, April 10: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday issued notices to mukhtiarkar of Latifabad, mukhtiarkar of headquarter estate and director of Settlement Land Revenue and Records asking them to appear in court on April 18.

The notices were issued on a constitutional petition filed by Yar Mohammad Mallah challenging the demolition of houses in a village and apprehending more demolition.

The petitioner who was represented by Syed Waseem Shah advocate, said that late Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo had awarded plots to the villagers in 1987 under his five-point scheme. Subsequently, the petitioner and other villagers were issued sanads by the assistant commissioner, he said. On Feb 21, 2007 Rashid Siddiqui, mukhtiarkar of Latifabad along with agents of Arif Builder Nasir Khan and Qasim Khan and 12 other unidentified men arrived in the village in a Mazda pick-up and government Suzuki jeep (no 6655) and started demolishing houses, he said.

He prayed the court to declare action of respondent mukhtiarkar as illegal and restrain him from demolishing remaining houses in Unit-11 of Latifabad. The respondent should be directed to pay compensation to the villagers for demolishing their houses, he added.