KARACHI, March 1: The Sindh High Court issued notices to defendants and the advocate-general in a suit questioning the relocation of the US consulate-general to an amenity plot in Clifton for March 18 and directed the parties concerned to maintain status quo in the meanwhile.

Plaintiff Karachi Grammar School submitted through Advocate Salman Talibuddin that it had been functioning on amenity plots ST-19 and ST-20, Khayaban-i-Saadi, Block 5, Clifton, for years and had about 1,850 students on its rolls in its kindergarten, junior and college sections.

Its premises share a common boundary wall with another amenity plot (ST-21B) measuring about 40,000 square yards, which was now proposed to house the US consulate-general on its shifting from Abdullah Haroon Road.

Thirty-nine square yards of the plot had already been parcelled out to the KESC for a sub-station, which can be accessed only through the school premises. According to the inquiries conducted by the plaintiff school's board of governors, the amenity plot (ST21B) was handed over by the Karachi Development Authority to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

The KMC sought to lease it out in 2001. The provincial ombudsman took suo motu notice of the proposed conversion and decided that it would neither be converted nor leased out without his express permission.

Despite the order, the city government, which owns the plot, the provincial board of revenue, which is responsible for land acquisition, and the Civil Aviation Authority, which is said to have an interest in the property, have decided to allow its conversion and lease it out to the US government for the construction of its consulate-general. An occupancy price of Rs200,000 per square yard was to be paid to the city government. The negotiations are said to be at an advanced stage.

The plaintiff requested the court to take judicial notice of the terrorist threat to the US embassies and consulates across the world and acute traffic problems caused by the consulate-general at its present site on Abdullah Haroon Road.

It said the proposed conversion and construction, besides being violative of the Sindh Disposal of Urban Lands Ordinance, 2002, would constitute a continuing and recurring public private nuisance. A permanent injunction against the conversion of the plot and its transfer to the US consulate-general was sought by the school.

Justice Mushir Alam granted urgent hearing of the suit, issued notices to the defendants and the advocate-general, ordered status quo be maintained in the matter and asked the provincial government's land utilization department to produce the entire record pertaining to the plot on March 18.

DAMAGES SUIT: Justice Amir Hani Muslim of the High Court of Sindh hearing a damages suit issued notices to a dozen police officers and officials besides a former home Secretary of Sindh and former IG Sindh Mohammad Saeed Khan for April 7, adds APP. The suit for damages of Rs62 million was filed by an overseas worker, Abdul Faheem Khan, who was arrested and booked in false cases.