KABUL (Pajhwok): The Commission for Prevention and Restitution of Grabbed Lands reviewed cases of dozens of residential schemes across the country during the past three years, declaring nine of them as entirely state-owned properties.

In a statement, the Ministry of Justice said since its establishment, the commission had examined files of numerous housing projects nationwide. Based on the rulings of special courts dealing with land usurpation cases, nine housing schemes were confirmed as state property.

It said these housing schemes cover more than 25,000 acres of land located in four provinces.

After thorough scrutiny of ownership documents, the commission had referred their files to special courts for final adjudication.

The statement added:“After careful and impartial examination of the cases, the special courts, upon reviewing relevant documents and obtaining verified information from concerned institutions, ruled that the entire lands of these schemes belong to the IEA (state).”

The MoJ identified the housing schemes as Mullah Tarakhil, Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan and Mullah Izat in Kabul, Khalid bin Walid in Balkh, Shahr-e-Naw in Maidan Wardak, Hakim Sanai and Nawabad in Ghazni, and Haji Qadeer and Is-haq Gilani in Nangarhar.

Parts of lands in Arya, Munshi Mir Ghulam, Mirwais and Habibullah Zazai housing projects in Kabul have also been declared state-owned based on rulings from the special court of the Central Zone, the statement added.

At the same time, some other schemes have been recognized as wholly or partially private, including Syed Jamaluddin Afghan and Habibullah Zazai (Bagrami district), Munshi Mir Ghulam (17th police district) and Mirwais (8th police district) of Kabul.

The ministry assured that the commission's purpose was to recover usurped state lands in line with applicable laws and procedures.

“The commission and its special courts base their judgments on authentic documents and evidence - the ethnicity or region of the occupants or usurpers has no bearing on the decisions,” the statement said.

According to official figures, additionally, about two million acres of state land have been recovered from illegal occupants nationwide over the past three years, while the files of millions more acres remain under review by the commission, provincial technical teams and related special courts.

hz/ma

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