22 May 2004	Saturday	02 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

KARACHI, May 21: The Sindh High Court ordered on Friday measurement of three bungalows in the KMC Housing Scheme to ascertain the extent of the alleged encroachment on public land.

A petitioner, owner of an adjoining bungalow around the scheme's roundabout near Bahadurabad, moved a writ petition alleging encroachment of the land earmarked for road expansion by neighbours and inaction of the Karachi Building Control Authority.

A division bench of the court asked its nazir to inspect the site and submit a report. The nazir, who carried out inspection with the assistance of engineers, reported that public land had been encroached upon not only by the respondents but also by the petitioner.

The bench asked the KBCA in March to take action against the encroachers in accordance with law and report compliance within two months. The KBCA said in its report that its demolition squad faced resistance when it reached the site.

The residents were not prepared to accept that they had encroached on the public land and relied on the scheme's layout plan. It requested the court to order a comprehensive survey to find out the exact space illegally occupied and merged into residential plots.

Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Mohammad Afzal Soomro, who constituted the bench, directed the SHC official assignee on Friday to nominate a qualified architect to ascertain the extent of encroachment after taking into consideration the layout plan and the approved plans of the bungalows.

The measurements would be taken after notice to the parties. The architect would submit his report to the official assignee within two months. The report would be placed before the court during the first week after the summer vacation.

DISPUTED MARKET: By another order, the bench asked the official assignee to inspect, within a week, plot number 167-MR1, Market Quarters, Saddar, and submit a report on the number of shops constructed on it.

An NGO had moved a writ petition through Advocate Neel Keshev alleging that 100 shops had been built on the plot in violation of the approved plan but no action had been taken by the KBCA. The authority be directed to demolish the shops, the petitioner prayed, filing an affidavit in support of the averments made by it.

Contesting the petition on behalf of the KBCA, Advocate Shahid Jamil Khan submitted that the petition was mala fide and had been filed without ascertaining the facts.

Only 39 shops had been constructed and they were all in accordance with the approved plan for the commercial premises. The petition had nothing to do with the public interest and was liable to be dismissed, the KBCA said in its counter-affidavit.

The petitioner and its counsel stood by the allegations made in the petition and the court ordered the official assignee to visit the site. The bench recorded undertakings by the two counsel that if statements made on oath by their respective clients were belied by the assignee's report, 'serious consequences would follow'.

The assignee has scheduled an inspection of the site on Saturday in compliance of the court order. Both the parties have been notified of the inspection.

ACCOUNTABILITY CASE: A division bench of the Sindh High Court admitted an accountability case accused to bail in the sum of Rs 500,000. Basir Shaikh, a Pakistan Post Office functionary, was arraigned before an accountability court in the city post office scam.

He was alleged to be involved in the misappropriation of over Rs 280 million invested in various schemes by the post office's savings bank. Izhar Siddiqui, who accepted the deposits at the bank after his retirement from the Pakistan Post Office, is the main accused in the reference submitted by the National Accountability Bureau.

Appearing for the petitioner, his counsel stated that Shaikh was neither named in the first information report nor a case made out against him.

NOTICE TO IBA: Justice Mushir Alam of the Sindh High Court issued notices to advocate-general and Institute of Business Administration for June 2 in six suits instituted against it.

The plaintiffs contended through Advocate Nasir Maqsood that they attended a course in computer science at the institute's Sukkur campus, but were not being awarded degrees.

They sought a declaration that they were entitled to degrees and a direction that they be awarded the same. They also sought damages in the alternative and for the losses caused to them by the delay.