15 May 2004	Saturday	24 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, May 14: The provisions of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979, are applicable to kutchi abadis, the Supreme Court held in a recent judgment delivered at its registry here.

Disposing of a petition for leave to appeal by a builder-owner of a plot in a Karachi slum area, an SC bench comprising Justices Rana Bhagwandas and Syed Deedar Husain Shah observed that under Section 35 of the Sindh Katchi Abadis Act, 1987, the SBCO provisions were attracted to violation of the building control law and the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations, 2002.

The appellant had challenged a Sindh High Court decision allowing a writ petition filed against him, the Karachi Building Control Authority and the director of kutchi abadis for the construction of a ground-plus-six-storeyed structure in violation of the law. The division bench allowed the appeal and directed the KBCA to demolish the violative building. The KBCA had no record of the plot nor any construction plan was submitted to it for its approval.

Upholding the SHC judgment on merit, the SC bench, however, observed that the KBCA had been condoning deviation from building laws by way of regularization of structures in different parts of the city on payment of charges and penalty by builders.

The KBCA, the bench further observed, would be well advised to treat the appellant at par with other builders found guilty of violations. "As per practice prevalent in the city of Karachi for decades", the bench directed the authority in its judgment, the petitioner's request for regularization, if any, shall be dealt with in accordance with the law and practice and without any discrimination against him.

Advocates Syed Ansar Hussain and Suleman Habibullah appeared for the petitioner and the respondent, respectively. Shahid Jamil Khan, KBCA Additional Controller for Legal Affairs, represented the authority while Dr Qazi Khalid Ali, Additional Advocate-General, Sindh, appeared on court notice.