HYDERABAD: The Accountability Court of Hyderabad on Thursday awarded five-year imprisonment to 12 accused, including a former deputy commissioner of Jamshoro and two former assistant commissioners, in a case of illegal allotment of 731 acres of state-owned land in the DHA City.

Judge Naseem Jalal Soomro directed the Defence Housing Authority to hand over vacant peaceful possession of 731-28 acres in Deh Babar Band, Tapo Hathal Bud, to the director general of the National Accountability Bureau within six days.

The NAB DG would then hand over possession of the land to Sindh government through the chief secretary, the judge ruled.

According to NAB prosecutor Jangu Khan, the reference was filed against a total of 18 suspects. The accused were also fined Rs2.5m each, he said. Two private persons were awarded 10-year imprisonment and Rs780m fine each, he added.

The convicts included former Jamshoro DC Sohail Adeeb Bachani, ex-assistant commissioners Javed Soomro and Mumtaz Channa and former mukhtiarkar Irshad Kamrani.

The land in question was situated in Thana Bula Khan, Jamshoro district, where an embezzlement of Rs2.84bn was committed, according to the reference. Four of the suspects had earlier opted for plea bargain and two others have since died.

The reference (No. 01/2019) was filed against Mohammad Hanif Lalani and 17 others. According to facts of case, some source information regarding fraudulent sale of the government land to DHA Karachi in 2015 was given to NAB.

Investigation was authorised on Jan 19, 2017 which revealed that Hanif Lalani in connivance with eight revenue officials managed / processed four fake and fabricated revenue entries in favour of six private suspects, and one deceased, Mian Khan Palari, in the record of rights and survey record and caused heavy losses to the government exchequer.

The revenue officials played roles in processing fake revenue entries in the name of fake landowners and kept fresh entries in computerised deh register while one suspect signed fake and fabricated revenue entries in back date.

The reference revealed that on official processed fake and fabricated ghat-wadh forms containing fake survey numbers, 301 to 498, pertaining to the said land.

Two suspects admitted guilt in writing for the purpose of pardon.

Two other suspects failed to exercise authority in preventing land fraud. It revealed that DHA Karachi, being affected by the scam purchased the land in good faith after due diligence and IO tentatively assessed market price of plot files at approximately Rs2.84bn whereas according to him, as mentioned in reference, government notified rates of 731-28 acres of land is approximately Rs146.3m.

The judge sentenced former DC Jamshoro Sohail Adeeb Bachani, Javed Ahmed Soomro, Mumtaz Channa, Irshad Kamalani, Abdul Rahim Burfat, Ghulam Mustafa Dawach and Ghulam Muhammad Memon to rigorous imprisonment for five years and imposed a fine of Rs.2.5m each. In case of default on fine payment, the same should be recovered as arrears of land revenue from them as provided under Section 33-E of the NAO, 1999, the order said.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2024