ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday lauded the efforts of authorities in Punjab and Sindh in computerising land records and directed Khyber Pakhtunkwa and Balochistan to follow their example.
A case regarding land reforms in all the four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) was heard by a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ijaz Afzal Chaudhry and Justice Gulzar Ahmed.During the course of proceeding, Faizul Hassan, Project Manager Punjab apprised the court that they have planned to establish 137 Facilitation Centres throughout the province. He stated that so far 40 Facilitation Centres have been completed and they have started computerising the lands in their areas. He added that the number of these centres would increase to 97 by December this year.
On bench’s query, he apprised that the process of computerisation would be completed by June 2015.Zulfiqar Ali Nizamani, Project Manager Sindh apprised the court that they were going well with the project and by August this year three Facilitation Centres would be computerised in different cities of Sindh.He further stated that if the required funds are provided to them, the whole project would be completed by June 2014.The Chief Justice appreciated efforts by both the provinces and directed them to put in more effort to complete the project.
Nizamani stated that they have dearth of funds and would need some Rs 1800 million for the completion of project. The CJ offered help by the court to the Sindh Project Manager in getting funds for the completion of the project and remove bottlenecks from the project through the advocate general Sindh.He stated that the Sindh province should consult the federal government for the provision of funding for the project.The CJ questioned whether they need any kind of legislation in the Land Revenue Act or any other relevant law.
Nizamani replied in negative, but the bench stated that they have to amend relevant provisions of the law to remove ambiguities as done by Punjab.KPK and Balochistan also submitted their reports before the bench. However, the bench expressed its dissatisfaction over the lethargic behaviour of both the provinces.The CJ stated that KPK and Balochistan should follow the other two provinces that have shown good progress on the project.The bench directed all the directors of the provinces and the ICT to convene a meeting at a suitable venue to exchange information and knowledge on the topic.Later, the case was adjourned till June 17 while directing all the four provinces and ICT to carry out the task to its logical conclusion. – DailyTimes
