Illegal allotment of plots: AJK SC takes notice of govt’s failure to de-seal MDA’s allotment record

MIRPUR: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court took strong notice of the AJK government’s high-level inquiry committee’s failure to de-seal the official allotment record of Mirpur Development Authority (MDA).

The inquiry committee was constituted under the supervision of the chief secretary of the AJK government to probe the alleged illegal allotments of plots by the MDA within one-month stipulated period.

The learned full bench of the apex court of AJK headed by Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan and judges Justice Khawaja Muhammad Nasim and Justice Raza Ali Khan directed the chief secretary of the AJK government to sort out the disputed matter to facilitate the public at large.

The AJK chief secretary, who is supervising the committee, has also been ordered by the apex court to submit the reply within a period of one week. “The case shall be taken up on February 1, 2024,” the apex court said in its order.

MDA’s Director General Tanveer Ahmed Qureshi appeared and apprised the learned court that the committee constituted to probe the matter of illegal allotments is working in full swing.

It may be stated here that earlier on November 22, 2022 keeping in view the fact that the department’s day-to-day affairs were being affected due to sealing of the record by the committee, the learned apex court observed, “It has come to our attention that the department’s day-to-day affairs have been adversely affected due to the sealing of records.”

The DG clarified that the record was sealed for evidentiary purposes. “Now the objective has been achieved and normal operations are resuming. Even otherwise, this court has not imposed any restrictions in this regard,” he added.

“Still there are numerous complaints that the day-to-day affairs of the department are being affected and there is also an impression that due to the judgment of the Supreme Court, daily affairs are not allowed to be carried out,” the apex court observed.

“In this regard, a contempt application (No.26/2023) has also been filed. The learned advocate general stated that all the manpower to complete the inquiry is from the government side and it is up to the MDA DG to manage the day-to-day affairs of the department. When the director general was confronted in this regard, he submitted that he has already apprised the committee, but no instructions have been received so far,” the apex court order said.

The learned full bench of the apex court said in its order, “We are afraid the order of this court, reproduced hereinabove, is not dependent upon the instructions of the committee, however, at this stage, we would like to send the copy of the contempt application to the hief secretary of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, who is supervising the committee, to submit the reply within a period of one week. He is also directed to sort out the disputed matter to facilitate the public at large. The case shall be taken up on February 1, 2024.”

In the popular case titled “Robkar-e-Adalat Azkar Ahmed Khan VS Deputy Commissioner Mirpur and Doud M Breech, Chief Secretary of AJK & others, Advocate General Khawaja Muhammad Maqbool War, Director General MDA Tanveer Ahmed Qureshi and Deputy Commissioner, Mirpur appeared in person during the hearing.

Legal experts Zulfiqar Ahmed Raja, Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan, Muhammad Nadeem Khan, Muhammad Zubair Raja and Farooq Akbar Kiani, advocates appeared as counsel for the applicants in the case.