KARACHI: Occupants told to vacate apartment complex
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 17: A division bench of the Sindh High Court dismissed an appeal moved by the occupants of an apartment complex built in Garden East on Monday and asked them to vacate the premises within four weeks, failing which the SHC nazir would take action to evict them.
The residents had challenged an order by a single judge against their eviction. The bench, which consisted of Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Mrs Qaiser Iqbal, pointed out that the builder was restrained in May 2004 from constructing the multi-storeyed complex and from creating third party interest in May 2004. The structure was raised on a plot (No GRE-289) meant for a residential bungalow.
On violation of the restraint order, the single judge had directed attachment of apartments in November 2005. The apartments were earlier found occupied by the SHC nazir but the builder said the occupants were his relatives and he had not sold any flat. He agreed to have the premises vacated and filed a compliance report in December 2005. In February 2006, however, the builder executed sub-leases in favour of the ejected occupants, who reoccupied flats, including the ones attached by the court. The judge asked the nazir to have the occupants evicted with police assistance, if necessary. The occupants moved an intra-court appeal against the order.
The appellants’ counsel, Khalid Jawed Khan, submitted that they were innocent purchasers for valuable consideration and were unaware of the institution of a suit against the unauthorized construction. The respondents counsel, Sana Minhas, stated that the builder neither had a completion certificate nor a no-objection certificate for sale of flats from the Karachi Building Control Authority. The authority had also not issued an occupancy certificate. In any event, the counsel said, the sub-leases executed in favour of the appellants were violative of a court order.
The bench observed that a sale in violation of a court attachment order was void. Citing Supreme Court and SHC judgments, it said the occupants of a building acquired no better a right and interest than the owner or builder and were not entitled to a notice if an unlawfully constructed building was ordered to be demolished. Occupation of a building without an occupancy certificate was unlawful and could not be protected by law. Dismissing the appeal, the bench asked the appellants to vacate the premises within four weeks.
LIFE TERM REMITTED: The Federal Shariat Court, meanwhile, set aside the conviction of an accused and the life imprisonment awarded to him under Section 11 of the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance. Partially allowing an appeal moved by Hadi Bux through Advocate Abdul Razzak, an FSC bench, comprising Justices Zafar Pasha Chaudhry and S.A Rabbani, noted that once the trial court found that an offence did not amount forcible or gruesome rape, it could not have convicted the appellant under Section 10 (3) or Section 11 of the ordinance.
He could only be convicted and punished for illicit intercourse.
The bench also noted that the accused claimed during the trial that the victim was his legally wedded wife and that the medical examiner’s report found the victim ‘well accustomed to sexual intercourse’. He also produced documents to show that he and the victim were lawfully married. Partially allowing the appeal, the bench maintained his conviction under Section 10 (2) of the ordinance but reduced the jail term to four years.
