QUETTA, Oct 21: The Supreme Court, Quetta bench, has ordered cancellation of allotment of residential and industrial plots in Gwadar to MNAs, senators, MPAs, ministers and other dignitaries by the government on the basis of a special quota and allocation of 50 plots for allotment to serving and retired members of judiciary.

The court has observed that the Balochistan government is not competent to allocate land quota for politicians, ministers, elected representatives, high civil officials and provincial judiciary without having a proper legislation on the subject.

The two-member bench — comprising Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed — issued the orders on Friday on a petition filed by a woman, Zahra Bibi, and others pertaining to land allotment and settlement in Gwadar. The order was released on Saturday.

The bench ordered that no land allotment be made in Gwadar by the chief minister/ revenue minister or the Board of Revenue (BoR) in violation of the land lease policy notified on December 1, 2000, till the disposal of the petition.

It observed that the National Accountability Bureau had no role in Gwadar land allotment since the powers of the Board of Revenue could neither be interfered nor infringed by any authority, unless otherwise provided by law.

The court directed the Balochistan government to formulate a transparent and fair policy for allotment and disposal of state land in Gwadar.

It observed that the provincial government had failed to evolve a comprehensive policy and consistent mechanism for land allotment in Gwadar, owing to which ‘every allotment, sale and disposed of land appears to have been made in a dubious and suspicious manner.’

The allotment must be made in a transparent, judicious and fair manner by adopting the procedure of open auction for industrial plots and balloting system for housing projects, it said.

The court asked the senior member of the Board of Revenue to conduct an inquiry and point out illegal allotments made over the past five years, ‘irrespective of the fact that by whom it (allotment) was made and in whose favour.’

It directed the official to furnish a record in four weeks to the registrar of the Supreme Court at Islamabad of the allotments made over the past five years.

The court declared that Khawaja Mohammad Naeem, former senior member, BoR, who was transferred during the hearing of the petition, would remain associated with the pending land cases. He may be called for assistance if needed as he ‘is conversant with the allotments made in an illegal and irregular manner.’

The court ordered transfer of the Tehsildar of Gwadar for mutating the land with haste and even in the absence of the Patwari, getting the formalities completed by his reader.

The court also ordered transfer of EDO (revenue) and settlement officer posted in Gwadar and disciplinary proceedings against them if they were found inefficient and failing to check illegal transactions and mutations. It observed that it would not be in public interest to keep officials posted on the posts for indefinite periods.

The court asked the BoR member board to furnish the names of the executive district officers (revenue), Tehsildars, Naib Tehsildars, Patwaris, posted in Gwadar, including those who had worked on revenue settlement, during last five years, to the registrar of the court at Islamabad.

The advocate-general of Balochistan was directed to procure the judgements passed by the Qazi courts, Majlis-i-Shoora and the Balochistan High Court on the land allotment cases over the past five years.

The court declared that land allotments, mutations, alienations and transfer made in favour of any private party after first hearing of the petition i.e. Oct 5, 2006 had no legal effect, and sought the sending of such cases to the Supreme Court registrar to assess their legal position.

The registrar of the Balochistan High Court was directed to furnish the details of cases of land allotment, alienation and mutation in Gwadar and Pasni, whether decided or pending.

The court observed that keeping in view the emergent nature of the situation prevailing in the province and glaring illegalities in the land allotments, such petitions should be fixed at some early date preferably before a larger bench.