KARACHI: The Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry on Wednesday directed the provincial authorities to get rid of encroachments from all state land across the province.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, directed the Board of Revenue’s (BOR) senior member to place on record a report showing details of the government land under encroachment and that repossessed from the land-grabbers.

The court instructed the revenue department to restore its parks and playgrounds to their original condition and clear greenbelts of all illegal occupations.

The bench asked the BOR to take steps for protecting its land.

The Supreme Court also ordered removal of encroachments from the forest and agriculture departments’ land and summoned reports from all the deputy commissioners and Mukhtiarkars of the province in this regard.

Talking to the senior member of the Board of Revenue, the Chief Justice pointed out: “Several parallel systems are running in your office. Your department’s Mukhtiarkar does some work at his office and some at home. Ten-storeyed buildings are being built everywhere.

“There are encroachments everywhere along the Superhighway.

“All your land has been encroached upon. Cities are being built along the Superhighway,” Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said.

The BOR official said that the department had retrieved 4,000 acres of state land in Malir alone.