25 September 2004	Saturday	09 Shaban 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: The Supreme Court on Friday suspended the sealing order of an amusement park in Karachi and served fresh notices on Karachi City Nazim Naimatullah and the owner of the park on a petition.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan issued fresh notices since the respondents had failed to appear despite earlier directions.

The bench was hearing a joint petition moved by Moulvi Syed Iqbal Haider and three other former employees of the park against the Sindh High Court (SHC) order rejecting petition challenging Karachi administration order of sealing swings in the Aladdin Amusement Park.

The case was adjourned but the next date of hearing would be decided later. The petitioners before the Supreme Court pleaded to set aside the high court order and declare the judgment of the City Nazim prohibiting the operation of swings, rides, swimming pools and water slide as arbitrary, illegal and unjustified.

These swings were closed after a 13-year-old boy on June 20, 2004, died due to malfunctioning of the swing. The parents of the boy later lodged an FIR with the police against the management of the park. Later on July 19, 2004, another child was seriously injured and later died after he was hit by a train.

The City Government then sealed the whole park as a result of which the owner of the park fired some 700 members of the staff working on daily wages basis. The petitioners contended that they also had a meeting with the City Nazim and the owner of the park to apprise them about hardships they were facing due to becoming jobless after the closure of the park.

They contended that the amusement park spreading over 50 acres was leased out to the owner by the city government at a throw-away price for the sole purpose of providing amusement to the people. Twenty five per cent of the land has been converted for commercial purpose while 75 per cent of the area was reserved for providing amusement to the people of Karachi.

The petitioners also recalled that after the incidents, the City Government had constituted a committee to probe into the tragic incidents. The committee in its report had never recommended closure of the entire amusement park except sealing of the swing (which had killed the boy) unless a safety certificate was issued by the department concerned.