KARACHI: Warrants for arrest of KBCA official issued
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 17: The Sindh High Court issued a non-bailable warrant for the arrest of the Karachi Building Control Authority deputy controller responsible for checking illegal constructions in the Defence area.
The order was passed by Justice Shabbir Ahmed when the deputy controller failed to appear in a suit filed several years ago against illegal constructions and conversions in the Defence View project. The high court had ordered the demolition of all illegal structures in September 1999. The KBCA was directed to report compliance and submit a comprehensive report. No report was submitted and no KBCA official was present when the case was called on Monday.
Justice Ahmed took a serious view of the KBCA official’s absence and issued non-bailable warrants for his arrest and production in the court on Nov 24.
Gross violations of building rules have surfaced in the course of proceedings. Additional floors have been constructed on single unit bungalows and cottages, residential plots have been converted into markets, structures have been raised on drains and compulsory open spaces have been covered.
DEMOLITION ORDERED: Meanwhile, a special division bench comprising Justices S. Ahmed Sarwana and Zia Perwez found a KBCA demolition report in respect of construction on plot number 126- H, Block 2, PECHS.
The bench had ordered the authority to demolish all unlawful structures raised on the plot and report compliance. The KBCA submitted a report but as the case came up for hearing on Monday, the division bench observed that the KBCA had not fully complied with the court order. It gave the authority another two days to complete the job and submit another report by Nov 24, when it would resume the proceedings.
The delinquent builder and contractor, according to a writ petition moved by Irfan Alam Mirza, had covered the entire mandatory open space for construction of shops. The builder got approved a plan for a single unit bungalow but the building was being divided into flats. The petitioner lives in a neighbouring bungalow.
At the request of KBA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan, the bench directed the respondent builder to pay the authority Rs10,000 toward the cost of demolition.
POLL PLEA: The Sindh High Court dismissed on Monday a writ petition against a second, run-off ballot held at Dadu for election of the district Naib Nazim.
A division bench comprising Justices Zahid Kurban Alavi and Gulzar Ahmed upheld the argument of Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui that an efficacious remedy provided by Rule 17 of the Local Government Election Rules was available to the petitioner and he had approached the high court without exhausting it.
The DAG said the writ petition was not maintainable as Rule 17 conferred exclusive jurisdiction on the tribunals consisting of the district and sessions judges concerned to decide all disputes arising out of the local bodies polls.
Petitioner Dost Ali Jassar had submitted through Advocate Abid Zuberi that he had obtained a simple majority in the first ballot and should have been declared elected. However, a second ballot was conducted between him and the runner-up, Zahid Husain Jatoi, which was won by the latter. He said the rule that a Nazim or Naib Nazim should be elected by absolute majority was not applicable to a byelection held to fill a mid-term vacancy.
Without going into the merits of the case, the bench dismissed the petition on the question of maintainability.
