' Mr. Masood Noorani, A.A.-G. Has submitted report in which he has stated that he could examine only 20 entries in the Record of Rights which the Mukhtiarkar Thana Bola Khan has made pertaining to Tappo Kalo Kohar and Hathal Buth, of Thana Bola Khan. These 20 entries according to the report were prima facie made on the basis of fictitious record/entries which do not have its original source, and are untenable in law.
2. This fact has been taken note of by the Senior Member, Board of Revenue, who is present in Court and undertakes to order disciplinary and criminal prosecution against the Mukhtiarkar Thana Bola Khan and Tappedars of both these Dehs of the Thana Bola Khan. The Senior Member, Board of Revenue has further made a statement before this Court that the Mukhtiarkar and Tappedars would be without field posting unless they are exonerated by the Enquiry Officer and the concerned criminal Courts.
3. While hearing the bail application, it surfaced from the record that the Government lands are being grabbed in connivance with the subordinate staff of the Revenue Department. This Court ordered notice to the concerned Mukhtiarkar and on perusal of the Revenue Record it transpired that there were serious legal defects in keeping the entries, as a result of which this Court ordered attendance of the Senior Member, Board of Revenue, D.C.O. (Dadu) and other Revenue Officers besides the Anti-Corruption Officers of District Dadu.
4. The Senior Member, Board of Revenue present in Court states that he has recently taken charge of the office and has planned to computerize the entire Revenue Record of Sindh. He further submits that serious complaints in regard to tampering and forgery in the Record of Rights, have been received by him and he would constitute committees at District level in order to scrutinize the record after following the procedure provided under the Revenue Act. He states that within four weeks' time he would be in a position to constitute the proposed Committees in all the Districts of Sindh and such committees would scrutinize and up date the Revenue Record and would submit their reports. On submission of the reports of the proposed Committees appropriate actions would be taken against those officers, who were responsible in forging and/or tampering with the Record of Rights. He further submitted that he would be issuing directions to the concerned Revenue Officers of the Districts to undertake periodical inspection of the Revenue Record in order to avoid tampering or forgery of future transactions.
5. The personal file of Mukhtiarkar, Thana Bola Khan which has been brought in Court reflects that thrice inquiries were conducted against him and he was penalized twice whereas in one of the enquiry he was exonerated. The report of the Enquiry Officer exonerating Mukhtiarkar is not confidence-inspiring, and the Senior Member, Board of Revenue would re-examine the enquiry report at his end and shall order appropriate action in accordance with law. The proposed enquiry against the Mukhtiarkar and Tappedars as directed by this Court in this case would be conducted under the orders of the Senior Member, Board of Revenue forthwith and the Enquiry Officers shall submit his enquiry report to this Court through Additional Registrar with the actions/penalty proposed against them within 2 months from the date of initiating disciplinary action.
6. During the proceeding it has also been noticed that the record of Deh Sonwalhar was sealed and during such orders of sealing, the record was mutated on the basis of sale certificates and even the Mukhtiarkar; Thana Bola Khan has done it. The Senior Member, Board of Revenue will direct some responsible officer to scrutinize entire record of Deh Sonwalhar in order to rectify forgeries as per law within a reasonable time.
7. The D.C.O. (Dadu) further submits that the record of Deh Sonwalhar is still not de-sealed. He, on enquiry from this Court, could not answer as to who ordered sealing of the record. It appears that a Division Bench of this Court has ordered de-sealing of the record of Deh Sonwalhar of which I was a Member. The entire record of Deh Sonwalhar cannot be sealed by any administrative order as it deprives the public in general from obtaining the certified copies and/or entering into any transaction in respect of their private lands in the said Deh. There is no provision under the Land Revenue Act which authorizes the Revenue Authorities to order sealing of the entire record of Deh Sonwalhar, I, therefore, order that if such record was not de-sealed, the same be de-sealed forthwith. It would however, be open to the Revenue Authorities to scrutinize and/or rectify and/or update the record but at the same time the sealing order which is prima facie outside the jurisdiction of the Revenue Authorities is set aside.
8. The Senior Member, Board of Revenue shall submit compliance report to this Court within three months of the communication of this order through Additional Registrar. Copy of this order be communicated to the Chairman, Provincial Anti-Corruption Establishment, Sindh for transmitting the directions to the relevant quarters. Non-compliance of any of the directives contained in this order would expose the concerned officers to contempt proceedings.
9. It has been noticed during hearing that the Anti-Corruption Police who has authority under law to prosecute the Revenue Officers subject to sanction by the administrative head, are exceeding their authority by holding inquiries on anonymous applications and on spy reports. The law does not authorize Anti-Corruption Police to entertain any application of any private person in respect of private land. If a complaint of a private person pertains to an entry of land,. Which is not owned by the Government, is allowed to be entertained, it would amount to usurping the powers of Revenue Authority provided under the Sindh Land Revenue Act, 1967. The Officer of the Anti-Corruption can only take cognizance in those matters in which the Government land is involved and they do not have the authority to determine dispute in regard to entries pertaining to private lands no the law authorize them to entertain any complaint in regards to title dispute between the private parties.
The authority of Anti-Corruption Police is confined to investigate into the entries kept in respect of Government lands and disputes in regard to the private lands are ,subject to jurisdiction of the Revenue Authorities and/or of the Civil Courts.
10. In future the Anti-Corruption Police is directed to stay its hands while entertaining complaints of private persons in regard to any entry in Revenue Record belonging to the private person. In future any cognizance by the Anti-Corruption Police over private disputes would expose them to criminal prosecution for abusing their powers. However, they can entertain complaints in respect of Government lands subject to sanction by the administrative head of the Revenue Department or by the Chief Secretary, Sindh as the case may be.
11. The Senior Member, Board of Revenue is directed to instruct the relevant District Officers of the Revenue Department to provide attested copies of the Revenue Record which is needed for the purposes of the investigation as it has been complained that the custodian of the Revenue Record does not cooperate with the Investigating Officers of the Anti-Corruption Department. However, in future original record would not be given to the Investigating Officers nor could they seal the Revenue Record. In case if the custodian fails to provide any information or record to the Investigating Officer of the Anti-Corruption, he may approach the next immediate Revenue Officer under the hierarchy.
12. The show-cause notice issued to the D.C.O., Dadu is also discharged as he has put in appearance and has stated that his absence on the last date of hearing was due to the sad demise of his brother-in-law.
13. Before parting with the order I must record my appreciation for the assistance provided by Mr. Masood Noorani, learned Additional Advocate-General in scrutinizing the Revenue Record and procuring other relevant information to safeguard Government interest.