KARACHI, April 7: After abolishment of Sindh Housing and Town Planning department and non-recognition of the City Government by chief controller of the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA), there exists no body to monitor the affairs of the authority.
Before the implementation of devolution system, the KBCA was not only accountable to the governing body of now defunct KDA, but its activities were also monitored by the defunct Housing and Town Planning department (HTP).
Presently, when KDA and the HTP does not exists, Chief Controller of Buildings, Brig (rtd) A S Nasir, has refused to acknowledge the devolution of the KBCA.
Mr Nasir, initially, had opposed placing of the KBCA under the Works and Services department and had demanded that it be treated as a separate department under city Nazim.
However, he changed his stance later, insisting that the KBCA was a regulatory body, which functioned under the direct control of the provincial government, that caused resentment in the City Government.
The absence of any checking authority over the KBCA affairs, has aggravated the situation in the body, mainly, regarding the transfers, postings and promotions.
Recently, on March 8, a grade-7 clerk, Nihal Siddiqui, has been promoted to grade 17 and has been appointed as Transport officer.
Besides, the 15 officers of the KBCA, who were suspended in 1996, in the case of 263 sealed buildings, have been exonerated by the inquiry committee headed by the Controller of Buildings, Ali Zafar Qadri.
Incidentally, the clearance report has been finalized just before the election of Mr Qadri as the Chairman, Pakistan Council of Architects and Towns Planners, with the support of a large number of the KBCA officials.
This inquiry committee was formed about two years back by the last CCOB, Brig Zafar Malik, when the Supreme Court had turned down the case filed by these 15 officers and referred it to the KDA’s governing body.
Meanwhile, Deputy Controller of Buildings (DCB), Muhammad Arif, who was direct to assist Mr Qadri, during this inquiry, too has been promoted to grade 19, about five months back, bypassing the regulations.
Reportedly, four suspended assistant controllers, namely, Anwar Kamal Kazmi, Khawaja Badiuzaman, Mohammad Ali Kaimkhani and Mohammad Bukhsh Qasmi, who were reinstated on March 8, were promoted to grade 18, only ten days after their acquittal by the committee on March 18.
Similarly, the CCOB has reshuffled the Public Relations department without issuing any office order, while another officer, Capt Shahid Mateen, Controller Recoveries and Administration, has been sent on forced leave by the administration.
City Nazim Naimatullah Khan has on several occasions expressed his concern and anguish over the affairs of the KBCA and conveyed it to the Sindh government, however, any policy regarding the building control authority is still awaited.—PPI
