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KARACHI, Sept 7: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday dismissed five appeals moved by the purchasers of shops in Trade Tower and vacated the stay order granted by a division bench against a single judge's permission to the Karachi Building Control Authority to demolish the violative structure.
The appellate bench comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Khilji Arif Hussain, which had suspended operation of Justice Mushir Alam's order dismissing the purchasers' suits on appeals moved by them, vacated the stay after hearing detailed arguments by KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan and Advocate Shahanshah Hussain for the appellants on Tuesday.
The bench observed that the KBCA should not have desealed the violative premises on an undertaking by the builder and developer under the law. There was nothing in the Sindh Building Control Ordinance to empower the authority in this behalf, it observed.
It referred the issue of desealing to the provincial ombudsman. The builder and developer, according to the authority, committed further violations after desealing and obtaining a court stay order about a year earlier.
The KBCA stated in its counter-affidavit that the plan approved by it required the builder to construct a parking lot in the basement with two ramps. Eighteen shops were approved on ground floor and 17 on the first floor.
Second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors were meant exclusively for offices. The builder constructed 13 shops and showrooms in the basement in violation of the plan. The result was that the building had no parking space and its inmates parked their vehicles on the busy Haji Abdullah Haroon Road.
In contravention of the approved plan, the builder also constructed shops on the floors reserved for offices and added three extra floors, covered excess area, including the compulsory open space, and transferred the shops without obtaining the completion or occupancy certificates. The builder violated not only the building law and regulations and the approved plan but also his own subsequent undertaking to the KBCA.
Advocate Shahid Jamil Khan informed the bench that the authority issued notices and partially demolished the unauthorized construction in October 2003. The district coordination officer of the city government and the DIG (operations) were requested to assist the authority in evacuation of the building before its demolition.
Both the agencies dragged their feet and the KBCA was unable to demolish the structure on its own. The KBCA, the lawyer said, was not adequately staffed or equipped to discharge its obligations under the law.
SO SUMMONED: A division bench of the High Court of Sindh, comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Zawwar Hussain Jaffery, on Tuesday summoned a section officer of the Ministry of Interior to appear before the SHC on Oct 2 to explain that why he had filed false comments, adds APP.
The bench was seized with a constitution petition filed by Sadruddin, importer of electronic items, asking for the removal of his name from the Exit Control List on recommendation by the FIA.
When the petition came up for hearing, Deputy Attorney General Nadeem appeared for the federal government in place of DAG Syed Zaki Muhammad. He informed the bench that the petitioner was accused of depriving the national exchequer of millions of rupees in Sales Tax.
The counsel for the petitioner objected to it and stated that the name of the petitioner had been on the ECL for the previous four years or more. No show-cause had been issued to the petitioner as he was not a defaulter and the allegations of tax evasion were false. He requested the court to take notice of false statement/ comments by Section Officer Rana Kaiser Ishaque of the Ministry of Interior.
POST OFFICE CASE: Another division bench of the SHC, comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Maqbool Baqer, on Tuesday disposed of the bail application of Izhar Hussain Siddiqui, the main accused in the Kutchery Post Office fraud case.
The bench, however, ordered treatment of the accused/applicant at his own cost and not to shift him to Karachi Central Prison until his doctor certified that his health had improved. Earlier, Barrister Azizullah K. Shaikh, counsel for the applicant, sought bail on medical and humanitarian grounds.
