HYDERABAD: A division bench of Sindh High Court Hyder­abad circuit here on Thursday ordered shifting of the headquarters of the Gorakh Hills Develop­ment Autho­rity (GHDA) from Kar­achi to Dadu.

The bench, comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry, also ordered GHDA to organise introductory tours for people to Gorakh Hills; holding of festivals there and surprise visits to the spot by district and sessions judges.

The court passed the order on a constitutional petition filed by Gahi Khan, who was represented by Raja Jawad Sehar advocate.

Sindh culture and tourism secretary Wasim Shamshad Ali, GHDA chairman and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA from Dadu Rafiq Jamali, GHDA director general (DG) Nasir Abbas Soomro, Dadu Deputy Commissioner Shah Zaman Kalhoro and other officials were present.

The GHDA director general filed a statement in the court regarding funds allocated by the government and utilised by the institution.

According to it, Rs2,567.738 million were allocated under the annual development programme (ADP) out of which Rs2,201.375m were relea­s­ed and Rs2,199.21m were utilised from 2009-10 to 2018-19 in past 10 years. The DG submitted that the GHDA’s sixth board of governors (BoG) meeting held on Oct 3, 2016 had approved Rs200,000 remuneration for the GHDA chairman.

After hearing petitioner’s counsel Raja Jawad and respondents, the court ordered surprise visits to GHDA’s headquarters in Karachi and in Dadu by the concerned sessions judges.

A report of Dadu’s judicial magistrate judge — who visited the GHDA offices — had reached the court during the course of the day while report of Karachi’s district South judge was awaited.

Dadu’s magistrate Imtiaz Ali Shah in his report stated that he visited Dadu city office of the authority and met assistant engineer Mian Bux Jamali. The office had six rooms and all offices were dirty. He said only nine employees were present. Mr Jamali failed to give a satisfactory reply to him about absentees, saying that they were in field.

But he did not give any proof of it. The officer told the judge that the GHDA had 17 vehicles, but only one jeep was found. Furniture and fixture of the offices were alarming. The conference room’s conditions reflected as if it was not used for years.

Answering a question, the culture and tourism secretary failed to tell names of 10 attractive tourist places in Sindh. He said he was not able to recall them right now. He said Rs1.3 billion were allocated in the budget of the culture department.

He agreed with the court that festivals must be held at Gorakh for its promotion and guided tours should be organised as well to attract tourists.

He informed that the department made an allocation for purchasing vehicles, including a double-decker bus, for this purpose in current financial year.

The court ordered that to verify status of the schemes mentioned in the DG’s report, the Dadu sessions judge shall examine schemes and submit a report. All officers would assist the Dadu sessions judge in this respect and he could seek services. It said that according to GHDA’s act, its headquarters was to be based at Dadu or at any other place through notification.

The secretary concerned and GHDA DG were unaware of a notification for headquarters in Kar­achi, but they did mention that such approval was granted by the BoG. The court ordered suspension of notification or any decision of the BoG for keeping the GHDA headquarters in Karachi.

The court ordered termination of the contract for rent agreement (Rs260,000) for Karachi office within two months and said headquarter would be established in Dadu as provided in the act.

It, however, allowed setting up of a liaison office in a commercial area in Karachi for communication, if any. The culture secretary undertook that conveyance and other facilities would be provided from Dadu to Gorakh to tourists.

The chairman and DG of the GHDA agreed with the court that annual festival should be held at Gorakh Hill preferably in the third week of August. The court ordered that free conveyance facility for 20 persons from Dadu to Gorakh would be provided every Saturday with one night stay as part of introductory tour. The order said that people from different segments of society would be invited to visit Gorakh Hill station without repea­ting visitors.

It directed the sessions judge to ensure proper police pickets as provided in the ADP scheme. The DG was directed to provide details of income received from contractor of the resort before the next date of hearing when master plan copy of hill station would be presented. The court ordered two offi­cers shall be posted at headquarter and this office would be part of the tourism department.

The GHDA chairman assured the court that the next quarterly meeting of the BoG would be held at Gorakh Hill. The court ordered framing of rules of the GHDA in three months and the authority would invite private sector for different schemes under Public-Private Partnership Act.

It directed the sessions judge of Dadu to depute a magistrate for surprise visit of the GHDA headquarters. It adjourned matter for the second week of September while the sessions judge of Dadu shall submit quarterly report before the court.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2019