KARACHI, March 16: The Sindh High Court asked the city and provincial governments on Wednesday to inform it within 15 days of measures being taken to shift the bus terminals and curb the nuisance caused by auto rickshaws in the city. A lawyer complained in his petition that a number of inter-city bus terminals were operating in congested areas of the city. The inter-city traffic caused mishaps and hardships in residential and commercial areas. He referred to an explosion at an inter-district bus stand near Saddar recently. The city roads were not meant for the kind of vehicles being plied on them, which often resulted in accidents and traffic jams besides creating environmental hazards.

Advocate Manzoor Ahmed submitted on behalf of the city district government that inter-district bus terminals were being constructed at convenient points outside the municipal limits. However, it would take time to complete the construction work. He assured the court that the bus stands would be shifted as soon as new terminals were constructed. No inter-city bus would be allowed to enter the city limits after shifting, he said.

Petitioner-lawyer Islamuddin said the auto rickshaws were equally to blame for environmental degradation.

AAG Sarwar Khan said 300 rickshaws were challaned by the traffic police for various violations during the last couple of months.

Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Maqbool Baqar, who constituted the bench hearing the petition, observed that challans were no solution to the serious problems caused by the rickshaws. It observed that the licensing authority should ensure compliance with the law and take more drastic action against violators.

DISMISSED: A division bench of the Sindh High Court dismissed on Wednesday two petitions moved by owners who purchased amenity plots leased out by the chief minister in Clifton in 1993 and 1996.

The petitioners said they were innocent purchasers and bought the plot from original allottees or people drawing title from them. The plots were duly allotted by the chief minister and they became owners after completing legal requirements.

Representing the city government’s KDA wing, Advocate Syed Jamil Ahmed submitted that according to a Supreme Court decision, the chief minister had no authority to allot KDA plots. Secondly, under another SC judgment, amenity plots could not be converted and used for any other purpose without due process of law. He said the plots fell in category ‘C’ of Block III of the KDA’s scheme 5 in Clifton and the KDA rightly issued the impugned notice of cancellation of the initial lease to their owners. Similar notices, he said, were issued to 18 other owners of plots in categories ‘B’ and ‘C’ of the block.

Dismissing the petitions, the bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Khilji Arif Husain, however, observed that the petitioners were free to approach the city government’s KDA wing to seek appropriate relief. Copies of the petitions were ordered to be sent to the chief secretary in order to ensure compliance with the law and superior court judgments in matters relating to plot conversions and allotments.