KARACHI: The 2700-acre land of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) located at Mauripur area in West Karachi has become the bone of contention between its two organizations i.e. Pakistan Customs and Inland Revenue Service (IRS) for last several years, it is learnt here.
According to the FBR sources, the then Central Excise had leased the land on the name of Salt Works in 1878 and the land was belonged to Salt Works and Central Excise Land Customs.
The sources further informed Customs Today that the FBR through a letter has allowed Pakistan Customs to look into the matter, as the land belongs to Collectorate, instead of Commissionerate.
To a query, the sources revealed that Inland Revenue Service has no authority, as the land had been leased on the name of Collectorate, instead of Commissionerate, as the Collectorate of Preventive was operational at that time in 1878.
“The then Central Excise gave the land to Salt Works for exploration of salt in the area in 18th century and then the lease of the land renewed by the competent authorities with the passage of time”, sources informed.
They further told this scribe that the authorities concerned of Pakistan Customs have written several letters to the authorities of IRS as per the directives of FBR for taking up the matter into consideration, however; the IRS authorities are not taking the matter seriously.
Elaborating the issue further, the FBR sources revealed that the lease of the land was expired after the specific time period and the IRS authorities forced the leasers to evacuate the land which was in use of the leasers for last 150 years.
The sources confirmed that the matter was still hanging in the lurch, as some of the FBR officers do not want to resolve the issue.
